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Outlook: Looking for the Liberian sister I left behind

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Eunice (centre in stripped dress) and Helen Cooper (with sunglasses) (credit: Helene Cooper)

27/05/2019 GMT

Looking for the Liberian sister I left behind

BBC World Service - Outlook, Looking for the Liberian sister I left behind

Civil war separated Helene Cooper from her sister. Years later she went back to find her

Helen Cooper fled Liberia after a bloody military coup, but she had to leave her sister behind. Years later, she decided she had to go back and find her.

Helen Cooper grew up in Liberia, fled during a bloody military coup and arrived in the US as a child refugee. Her background inspired her to become a journalist but there was one question that still needed to be answered: what had happened to the adopted sister she’d left behind?   

After growing up in Singapore, Margaret Leng Tan became the first woman to earn a doctorate from the Juilliard School of Music in the US. Her career then shrank to a place she didn't expect when she became the world’s first professional toy piano virtuoso. Outlook’s Tara Gadomski went to meet her and and her 30 miniature pianos. 

Lo Man Kam is a Kung Fu master who practises a style of the martial art known as Wing Chun. As a teenager, he even trained with the screen legend Bruce Lee. Although he's now in his late 80s, people still travel from around the world to take his classes.

Image: Eunice (in stripped dress) and Helen Cooper (with sunglasses) 
Credit: Helene Cooper

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