What you may call destiny is what brought two identical Kenyan twins, Sharon Mathias and Melon Lutenyo, together after years.
After finishing primary school, Sharon Mathias had been sent to Shikoti Girls in Kakamega County. Her mother, Angeline Omina, sent her there because she never wanted her to school in Nairobi.
“My mother never wanted me to school in Nairobi because she wanted me to achieve my dreams. I wondered why because many had schooled there and achieved their dreams. Nevertheless, I chose Shikoti Girls in Kakamega,” she said.
Meanwhile, Melon Lutenyo had finally opted for Friends Secondary School Kongoni after a couple of options.
“My dad took me to Melvis School in Cherangany. I schooled there until form two third term and I told my father that boarding school was not my taste.
“My father then suggested I join Shikoti girls but I refused because I never wanted boarding school. He later told me to choose the school of my choice and I decided to join Friends Secondary School Kongoni,” Melon narrates.
Although the two would have met if she had gone to Skikoto Girls School, destiny still brought them together eventually.
The birth
On 15th August 1999, their mother, Rosemary Khaveleli Onyango, delivered the twins through caesarean delivery. Although she initially expected to give birth to triplets, she had two girls.
The doctors placed her babies in an incubator at Kakamega County Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kenya for a week due to low birth weight, after which she took them home to Furfural.
She noticed her twins were not identical, but let go of the doubt and went on to raise her girls. She named them Melon and Mevis.
Just a day earlier, there had been another woman in the hospital, Angeline Omina. She had given birth to a girl whom she named Sharon.
According to a report, the hospital provided proof that the two mothers gave birth there. However, it revealed that there was no documented proof showing the mode of delivery, dates, as well as other details.
The meeting
Fast forward to when Sharon and Melon met in Kangemi in June 2019.
“It was our first time to travel to Nairobi, and we met in town. We hugged and cried uncontrollably. It was like there was a strong bond between us, and that makes me believe that Sharon is my sister. We now want a DNA test done immediately to end the doubts,” Melon said.
How they met
The puzzle started after an academic outing. Melon had joined a music and drama club in her school and went for a competition.
Sharon had also participated in the high school music festival. There, students from her school kept asking if she had a twin. They were surprised to see someone who looked like Melon at the festival even though she wasn’t participating.
Melon refused to share her picture upon Sharon’s request for confirmation. The matter ended but rose again after a teacher from Melon’s school met Sharon at another competition – a science one this time. Melon finally saw a picture of Sharon which her teacher took of her. She became puzzled and began her investigation.
Fast forward to April 2018, her daughter Melon met her lookalike, named Sharon, on Facebook. The two connected and they had an online altercation, accusing each other of impersonation.
In December of that year, the two met at a bus-stop, following constant mention by their peers and teachers of their striking resemblance.
In April 2019, both families decided to seek professional help to find out if the children were related.
The DNA result
The DNA result revealed that Sharon and Melon were indeed twins.
“Ms Rosemary Khaveleli Onyango could not be excluded as the biological mother of the twins who have compatible obligatory maternal allelic profile with a 99.999 per cent probability,” the result stated.
It also disclosed that Onyango is not Mevis’s biological mother. Her biological mother was revealed to be Angeline Omina, the woman who raised Sharon as her child.
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Photo Credit: Kevin Tunoi / The Standard