Career
In 2000, Chepkurgor offered then United States. President Bill Clinton a dowry of forty goats and twenty cows in exchange for Chelsea Clinton"s hand in marriage. Chepkurgor originally wrote to President Clinton offering the dowry of goats and cows during Clinton"s 2000 visit to Kenya. According to Muliro Telewa, a reporter for the British Broadcasting Corporation, the number of animals offered in the dowry was very generous by Kenyan standards.
Chepkurgor drew worldwide attention and headlines when he publicly disclosed his offer for her hand in marriage in 2005.
He told The Standard in a 2005 interview that, "Had I succeeded in wooing Chelsea, I would have had a grand wedding..I would have invited South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu to preside at the ceremony." His letter drew scrutiny from Kenyan authorities, who conducted background checks of his friends and family. He was summoned for a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which he declined to attend.
The couple had four children. In 2009, another Kenyan journalist brought up the subject of the 2000 marriage proposal to then United States. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during a town hall meeting with reporters.
After a pause, Secretary Clinton replied saying, "My daughter is her own person.
Godwin Chepkurgor was killed in an elephant attack on August 1, 2014, while on assignment for the Kass Weekly magazine. Chepkurgor was in Ol-debes village, Mogotio, Baringo County, covering the story of a herd of African elephants which had been bothering local communities. He was taking pictures of the elephants when a male bull ambushed him from behind, trampled him and threw him in the air with his truck.
Chepkurgor landed on some stick which caused abdominal injuries.
Kenya Wildlife Service officers were finally able to drive the elephants away to rescue Chepkurgor. He was taken to Rift Valley General Hospital in Nakura where he died from his injuries at the age of 45.
