Guat' jiggy with it

Woman adopted from Guatemala returns to teach kids Irish dancing

- BY OTTILIE VON HENNING

AN Irishwoman adopted from Guatemala returned to her orphanage and taught the children Irish dancing.

Maria Merriman, 29, travelled back to her country of birth 12 years after being adopted by an Irish family.

She was adopted in 1996 and raised in Dublin by her parents.

Maria was one of seven Guatemalan children adopted by Irish families around the same time and the group has remained close ever since.

In 2009, Maria and her fellow adoptees returned to Santa Apolonia orphanage for the first time, visiting the place where some of them had lived as babies.