The most prolific woman in the world: how a single mother lives with 44 children
'23.09.2020'
Source: World of Ideas
Mariam Nabatanzi from Uganda was only 13 years old when she gave birth to her first pair of twins. By the age of 36, she already had 44 children, whom she had to raise alone after her husband left her, says World of Ideas.
Now 41-year-old Mariam has been told that she suffers from a rare genetic disorder that causes triplets and quadruplets at the time of conception. Mariam gave birth to quadruplets three times, triplets four times and twins six times. Incredibly, she manages to take care and feed them all on her own.
The fertile mom was only 12 years old when she married a man 28 years her senior. A year later, she gave birth to her first twins. She now lives with all her children in a terribly cramped environment in just four tiny houses made of cement bricks and covered with corrugated iron.
Doctors once warned Mariam that birth control pills could cause her problems because she has unusually large ovaries. So after her first twins, the children just "kept coming." On average, a Ugandan family has more than 5 children, this is one of the highest fertility rates in Africa, but even by these standards, the Mariam family is huge.
Mariam's last pregnancy three years ago ended in tragedy when one of the twins died in childbirth and then her husband left her. But it was after this birth that my mother finally received the medical care she needed in order not to give birth again.
“Her case is a genetically abnormal predisposition to hyperovulation,” said Dr. Charles Kiggundu, a gynecologist at a hospital in Kampala, Uganda.
Mariam is desperate to provide for all the children. She works as a hairdresser, decorator, collects and sells scrap metal. In addition, she brews and sells local gin and does herbal medicine. Older children, of course, help. There are several bunk beds in Mariam's houses, the rest of the children sleep on mattresses on the floor. The family cooks and cleans together, while the older children look after their younger siblings.
According to Mariam, she uses 25 kg of cornmeal every day so that her children have enough food. Fish and meat are rare for a family. But she says she does not give up and is determined to raise all children with dignity.
