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The heartrending reasons this Pretoria couple are parents to three lifelike dolls

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Etta and Charl Venter’s three dolls, Heinrich, Meiling (aka Vlooi) and Michelle are the couple’s world.  (Photo: Papi Morake)
Etta and Charl Venter’s three dolls, Heinrich, Meiling (aka Vlooi) and Michelle are the couple’s world. (Photo: Papi Morake)

Three small children snuggle up to their mom and dad on a sofa in the family home.  

“Vlooi is the apple of my eye,” Charl Venter says, gently stroking the little girl’s hair. Heinrich is sitting on mom Etta’s lap and his sister, Michelle, is wedged between her parents. 

It would all be a normal, happy family scene – except for the fact that these little ones are reborn dolls, toys that look uncannily like real babies.  

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