GhLinks Media
A- 20-year-old man, Utalii Lepeto, believed to dumb, has left residents of Lorubae in Samburu East with their mouths open after he miraculously spoke for the first time since he was born.
On Saturday, April 10, Utalii Lepeto started talking and his voice was becoming clearer, shocking his family and neighbors who had never heard him utter a word.
His cousin Paul Letoiye, who was the first one to hear him talking, said that he thought he was dreaming as he had not gotten out of bed. Letoiye was shocked when Utalii woke him up saying “habari”, meaning “hello”.
According to Daily Nation, the elated Utalii walked around their village later in the day while talking, shocking the neighbors and siblings. “We did not even take breakfast. I was so happy to hear him utter some words,” Letoiye told the Nation.
Jane Lepalsintio was the first neighbor to be greeted by Utalii while heading their village. “I was shocked when he asked me “habari”. I took some time before responding.
It is such a great miracle because he used to communicate to us through sign language,” she recalled.
His mother Sabato Lepeto and grandmother Naomi Lepeto shed tears of joy, thanking God for what they termed “a miracle”.
According to his mother Lepeto, the boy was born in 2001, and after seven years of not speaking, he was taken to the Isiolo School for the Deaf.
Before his admission to the school in 2008, and like is the tradition, Utalii’s hearing was screened, and it was established that he could not hear, not even a scream. In 2015 Utalii, who had already learned to communicate in sign language, started attempting to speak but could only make some sounds until he sat his KCPE exams in the same year.
