Declared dead at birth, lost ‘baby’ reunites with family 47 years later

Mother and daughter reunite after five decades     (Photo:Silah Koskei/Standard)

By Silah Koskei

Elizabeth Rotich was in a jubilant mood as moments ticked away, bringing her closer to cuddling her second born child. But before the 17-year-old mother had fully recovered, health workers attending to her said that her baby, born two months before her due time, had passed on while in an incubator.

This heart-breaking announcement was followed by some bizarre developments.  On the day she came to collect the remains of her child, she was given the body of a male.

 “After delivery, I confirmed the gender of my baby; a girl. When I came with a coffin ready to take the body, I became curious and unwrapped clothes of the lifeless baby only to discover that it was a boy. I knew I had been tricked,” Elizabeth recalled.

She was so angry that she threw away the coffin and refused to take the body because her conscience was not clear.

Elizabeth’s mother, Veronica Jemurgor, too, had sensed something was amiss for she had been sent away from the hospital just as the baby was being taken to the incubator and when she came back, she was told the baby had died.

Elizabeth, who was once a prison warder, revealed that after the debacle she accepted her loss. She, like other family members, hoped that one day the truth would be revealed.

The moment of truth came on May 2, 2014. Elizabeth’s village, Eisero in Mosop constituency learnt that the baby long thought to be dead was alive. Strange still, this lost baby was planning to return home after 47 years.

There was anxiety at Elizabeth’s home when the vehicle carrying Carolyne Cherop; came to a halt. 

“Welcome home my daughter. I thought I had given birth to boys only. God is indeed great to have brought you back to my arms,” said Elizabeth amid sobs.

Jemurgor says her daughter lost consciousness at the delivery room. The newborn was rushed out of the ward ostensibly to the incubator. This is when the baby was stolen by one of the nurses at the facility and the story of its death ‘cooked up’.

Jemurgor, who never gave up on her grandchild, was forever probing until she met Elizabeth Samoei, a woman who was a relative to the nurse who had stolen the baby at birth.

Samoei knew Susan Taplangoi, the woman who had snatched baby Cherop from the mother soon after birth.

“Susan never had children of her own. We feared to ask where she got the two babies; a boy and a girl,” she adds.

It was through the intervention of Samoei and Canicious Kipkemboi, Elizabeth’s son, who ensured that her stolen sister, who was now fully grown and married was reunited with her family.

Cherop was traced in Turbo centre where she was staying with her husband and children. Her resemblance with Kipkemboi was striking.

According to Samoei, the truth came out after a woman identified as Mary, who was Cherop’s babysitter, opened up disclosing that the woman who had employed her to care for the two children was not their biological mother.

Mary was present during the recent reunion and said that her conscience could not let her keep quiet over the truth about who the true parents of Cherop were.

Ironically, Jemurgor and Taplangoi, the alleged baby thief had been great friends before the incident.

“I never knew that I had relatives and siblings. I am happy to know that my parents are alive,” she expressed upon reunion.

Taplangoi died of high blood pressure and stroke at the age of 84 in 2012.