Rachel Kolisi celebrated 10 years since she and her husband, Springboks skipper Siya Kolisi decided to bring his siblings to see if they were comfortable enough to stay with them, via an Instagram post on Sunday 18 August.
RACHEL KOLISI: ’10 YEARS OF THE GREATEST GIFT’
Springboks skipper Siya Kolisi and his wife Rachel Kolisi adopted his two younger siblings Liyema and Liphelo. Siya shares a mother with his two siblings, who unfortunately passed away in 2009.
Rachel revealed that Liphelo’s birthday marked 10 years since Siya’s siblings first came to spend a week with them in Cape Town to see if they were comfortable enough to stay with them forever. At the time Liphelo was seven and Liyema, 12. Take a look…
“While celebrating Liphelo’s birthday last week, and having all 4 kids home for the weekend, we reflected on the fact that almost to the day, 10 years ago, Liphelo and Liyema came to spend a week with us in Cape Town to see that they were comfortable to make the move and come stay with us forever,” she wrote.
“I was 24 years old Nic was 3 months old, Liphelo had just turned 7 and Liyema 12. 10 years, of the greatest gift God could have ever given me,” she continued.
SIYA KOLISI’S JOURNEY TO ADOPTING HIS SIBLINGS
Liyema and Liphelo were reportedly left bouncing from orphanages to foster homes after their mother and father passed away. Siya and Rachel were later financially stable enough to adopt the pair.
According to Kaya FM, Siya found his siblings in foster care in Zwide – a township in Gqeberha. Siya explained that when he went to see his siblings, his sister didn’t know him.
“My little sister didn’t know me. She had been crawling when I last saw her. I told the woman taking care of them that I was going to take them for December holidays that year, which I did. But afterwards I said I can’t send them back,” he said to The Guardian.
The Springboks skipper revealed that the legal process took about 18 months.
“I had to go through a legal process, which I started after that holiday. It took about 18 months, but I finally legally adopted them,” he continued.