It’s early on a Monday morning when a young father arrives at the Department of Home Affairs in Klerksdorp, North West.
He completes a form, pushes it across the counter and minutes later he’s holding the birth certificate of his first-born. He reads the words over and over: Yalinka van der Merwe, born 25 January 2012.
Later that morning, back at his parents’ home in Klerksdorp, Chris van der Merwe (24) says registering his daughter’s birth was a moment he’ll never forget.
If only his 22-year-old wife could have been there too, he says wistfully.
“Didi is missing out on so many things with our baby daughter,” he says. Then he adds, “But there’s so much to be grateful for – so many miracles.”
Yalinka’s arrival has tugged at heartstrings across the country. She was born at 37 weeks in the Potchefstroom Hospital and is in excellent health.
Even doctors marvelled at her birth, calling it a miracle – because her mom was in a coma for nearly four months of her pregnancy and is still in a partial coma.
Read more in Jaco Hough-Coetzee’s interview with Chris in YOU 9 February 2012.
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