Black and white twins for Ghanaian-German couple

A Ghanaian woman and her German husband have a rare pair of twins, one black after the mother and the other white after the father.

Germany's The Local news website reported on Thursday that their mother, Florence Addo-Gerth, 35, from Ghana, has dark skin, and the father, Stephan Gerth, 40, from Potsdam in Germany, is white.

"We all couldn't believe it," said the Lichtenberg maternity ward's head doctor, Birgit Weber, said on Wednesday. "The staff came from all corners of the ward to see and the mother just kept looking from one child to the other."

The Ghanaian mother and the father from Potsdam named their healthy boys born on July 11, Ryan and Leo.

"It is very unusual for twins to be born with different skin color," Weber said. "It's the first time for our clinic."

The mother said it took a while to process the event. "I imagine sitting at a playground where the other mothers will call me crazy when I tell them the boys are twins," she said.

Coincidentally, the 2008 International Congress of Genetics is being held in Berlin this week. Head of the conference, Dr. Rudi Balling said the event is very unusual. "But it is definitely possible, because ultimately the genes of both parents are combined.

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