HANOVER, Germany – A black mother-of-three who gave birth to a pale-skinned red-headed child with piercing blue eyes has been left baffled.
Patience Chando, 36, who is of Zimbabwean heritage, and her white German partner Andreas Spillea, 49, welcomed four-month old baby Andrea Mariella into the world in April.
But now she can’t take her daughter out in public without being stopped – but not just because of how adorable she is.
The former office worker thought her daughter’s creamy complexion would darken since her other daughters – 15-year-old Faith and 17-year-old Lucricia – inherited her skin tone.
But instead, the mum-of-three said Andrea’s blue eyes, striking auburn hair and milky skin is turning heads wherever they go in their hometown of Hanover, Germany.
Patience said: ‘I couldn’t believe it. Her skin was too white when she was born, I was sure it would tone down, which happens sometimes, but it hasn’t.
‘It wasn’t until a few days after she was born I started to think: ‘Hold on, her skin was white. I’m her biological mother and I’m black’.
‘Every time we go out I get questioned or stopped for photographs. I’m running out of things to say to people. She’s the centre of attraction.’
Patience, who conceived the Faith and Lucricia with her black former partner, moved to Hanover after meeting new partner Andreas in Zimbabwe
Doctors are equally stunned, raising concerns Andrea might have a skin disorder when she took her in for a routine check-up.
Patience, who conceived the Faith and Lucricia with her black former partner, moved to Hanover after meeting new partner Andreas in Zimbabwe.
Patience thought her daughter’s creamy complexion would darken since her other daughters – 15-year-old Faith (pictured right) and 17-year-old Lucricia (pictured left with Andrea) – inherited her skin tone
She traced her ancestry but said there was no white heritage in her family.
However, geneticists have suggested this could be what lays behind the striking contrast to her daughter’s skin tone.
Patience, who conceived the Faith and Lucricia with her black former partner, moved to Hanover after meeting new partner Andreas in Zimbabwe.
Dr Bryce Mendelsohn, a medical geneticist at the University of California, said: ‘People of African descent have traces of European in their ancestry, especially from populations with many geographic origins, so that could be the case here’. Pictured right: The happy mother with her daughter
She traced her ancestry but said there was no white heritage in her family.
However, geneticists have suggested this could be what lays behind the striking contrast to her daughter’s skin tone. – Daily Mail