Were these Kenyan teenage girls switched at birth?

Sharon, Mevies and Melon.
source: standardmedia.co.ke

In a story that seems stranger than fiction, Kenyan teenagers Sharon Mathias and Melon Onyango discovered each other on Facebook. The girls realized that they looked identical and proceeded to arrange a meeting. The fact that these 19-year-old girls look so much like has led everyone to believe they were switched at birth.

The story of their birth

Melon’s mother, Rosemary Onyango, has narrated the events surrounding the birth of her twin girls. Both girls were born in Kakamega Provincial Hospital. Rosemary Onyango was said to have given birth to twin girls named Melon and Mevies on August 15, 1999.

There was another woman in the hospital that had also given birth two days before Rosemary delivered the twins. This other woman, Angeline Omina, was said to have given birth to Sharon.

Did Angeline go home with the ‘wrong’ baby?

19 years later, both families are now tied together in a story that has left everyone puzzled.

Angeline says no family member accompanied her to the hospital when she gave birth to Sharon. After hours of intense labour pains, Rosemary remembers that she had been treated to only a glance of her daughter before the nurses took the premature baby away.

“The nurses just gave me the baby to glance over when she was born. They said she can’t stay out in the cold for long and they have to rush her to the nursery because she is premature,” Rosemary says. She later went to the nursery to find the baby tagged Sharon Mathias, whom she took home.

“She looked like the baby I was shown earlier,” says Angeline.

Waiting for closure

There are fears that one of the twins, Mevies, could actually be Angeline’s child while Sharon could be Rosemary’s other twin daughter. Angeline has been told by family and friends that Mevies bears a strong resemblance to her while Sharon shares a striking resemblance to members of the other family.

Both families have implored on the general public to help fund a DNA test to bring closure to the three girls and their families.
The Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) has promised to sponsor a DNA test to help the families find out if the girls are blood sisters.

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