Monrovia – Parenting children can be difficult but what’s heart-breaking is to learn that the ones you fed, diapered and snuggled to sleep are not yours.
Report by: Mae Azango [email protected]
Mr. Johnson, (Not his real name), was leaving the US Embassy with tears in his eyes, where it was announced to him that he could not travel to the US because the children he claimed were his, had been proven by DNA, not to be his children, so he could not travel with the kids.
“I cannot believe that I fathered another man’s children all these years, thinking they were mine, but just to be proven by DNA, that they are not my children. I blame the children’s mother who lied to me from the beginning,” said the upset father.
The disappointed father, who chose not to be identified because of the attending shame, said he has taken the children many times to his office and boasted about them. The children’s ages are 20, 23 and 18.
“Do you know how I feel and the big shame I am going to face in front of my family and friends? My children’s mother must tell me who the father of these children is, or I will take her to court to pay back all my money I have been spending behind these children for nothing,” he said angrily.
Mr. Johnson, who won a Diversity Visa (DV) lottery, was asked by the US Embassy to do a DNA to prove if the children were his, of which he agreed, because he was sure with no doubt the kids were his children.
Deoxyribo Nucleic Acid, commonly known as DNA worldwide, is a test done between parents and children to prove true relationship of the children to either parents. DNA is usually done when there is a serious contention over a child who is claimed by two fathers or when a child is going overseas to reunite with either parent.
According to North Gene DNA testing Center website, Paternity Testing determines whether a man is the biological father of the child or children in question. The test compares the DNA of a mother, a child (or children) and a possible father.
Children inherit half of their DNA from their mother and half from their father. If a man shares certain DNA sequences with a child then there is a 99.99% chance the man is the biological father of that child. If a man does not share those DNA sequences with a child then he is not the biological father.
“For a Paternity Test from NorthGene, we need DNA samples from the mother, child (or children) and the possible father.”
“We can proceed with DNA from just the father and child but any children under the age of 16 must have the mother’s consent to take the test”, said Jerome Nyeka, Director, Planet Inc. Environmental Evaluation Company.
In Liberia, DNA testing that is said to be done by Med-link and Kingdom Care clinics, is resulting serious problem, for which many think it seems to be tearing families apart instead of solving the problem.
“As the samples for DNA are said to be collected and send out of the country for the test to be done, the results could be contaminated because of time, or could be mistakenly changed. “
“As an environmentalist, I do send specimens out of the country for testing, and I have encountered contaminated results before. Sometimes you have to change the container the sample was in and send it to another lab. “
“So the father needs to do the test to two other places to see if he will get the same results, because I strongly believe that the kids are his, but something happened along the line,” said Nyenka.
This situation bears striking resemblance to the story of a Liberian man living abroad. He filed for his twenty year old son, but was asked to do a DNA test for which he complied.
But when the result said the child was not his, he could not ask anyone about the child’s rightful father because the mother of the boy had died few years ago. So the boy could not go to the man he knew as father all his life.
On the other hand, Mr. Johnson is afraid that the money paid to do the test, was US$1,000 per person and he had already spent over US$ 4,000 to do the test, and he does not have any other money to do further test, because he begged friends for assistance in raising the first amount.