On this year’s World Twins Day, more than 50 sets of twins gathered in Eldoret to celebrate their unbreakable bonds and unique life experiences.
Among them were Joyline Cheptoo and Joseline Cheruto, inseparable 23-year-old twin sisters, who work at the Delight Gooseberry company in Eldoret.
Among the more than 50 sets of twins was a set reunited in 2020, just months after meeting on Facebook.
Adorning white T-Shirts, the twins met in Eldoret to discuss their life experiences during Twins Day.
They established a WhatsApp group to bring together twins in the North Rift and Western regions, and their numbers grew to hundreds of twin sets.
From mistaken identities to mischief in school and to scoring the same grades as well as similar feelings, the twins shared and celebrated their uniqueness.
Cheptoo and Cheruto who hail from Moi’s Bridge said while at Ngeria Girls Secondary School in Uasin Gishu County, they gave teachers and other students a hard time identifying them.
Cheruto says whenever she has a headache, her sister feels the same. She said they experience their monthly periods at the same time.
Cheptoo said; “After high school, we started job hunting and we all landed jobs at Gooseberry Delight by coincidence. I don’t know what will happen in case of separation because separating will hurt the two of us.”
Terran Misoi and her twin sister Kesumo Misoy, who are identical twins from Kapnyeberai in Nandi County scored the same marks, 361, in their national tests in primary school and both went ahead to attain B minus in their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) at Our Lady of Peace Nandi Hills Secondary School.
The 27-year-olds live 300 kilometres apart; Terran lives in Nairobi while Kesumo stays in Eldoret.
On Saturday, they said they were celebrating their physical reunion.
“The distance is a challenge but we often connect through video calls. We also visit each other regularly during occasions,” says Kesumo.
Her sister Terran says, “I travelled all the way from Nairobi to Eldoret, to celebrate World Twins Day and importantly to meet my twin sister.”
Identical Sharon and Melon, the famous Kakamega twins, stood out.
They attained celebrity status in 2019 after their striking similarities caused them to meet and before questioning their parents about their identity. It was later established that they had been separated at birth at a Kakamega hospital where their mother had given birth to them. A DNA test showed they were blood sisters.
Currently, Melon is a student at Mount Kenya University while Sharon is at Kibabii University, and both are pursuing degrees in Journalism.
They said they decided to pursue a degree in Journalism to highlight stories of twins and their experiences and to appreciate the media for carrying stories that helped them solve the puzzle of their identity four years ago.
“For us, it has never been easy since 2019. World Twins Day enables the two of us to erase bad memories of our separation at birth,” Sharon said.
Melon added, “We thank The Standard and KTN for highlighting our story in 2019. It is because of their coverage that we found our real identity.”
Male twins used the opportunity to explain how they have found themselves in trouble over striking similarities with their identical brothers.
One time, Philip Yego faced disciplinary action at his place of work after his bosses spotted his twin brother Elphus Yego driving a truck in Eldoret and thought he had absconded from duty. “I was on the verge of being fired. I had to bring my twin brother to the disciplinary committee. That is when they believed me,” said Philip, who is the chairman of Twins Link Foundation, North Rift. By Stephen Rutto, The Standard
