At the age of 12 Mariam Nabatanzi from Uganda was married to a man who was about four times as old as her. Soon after she became pregnant and gave birth to her first set of twins when she was only 13 years old. In the years that followed, Mariam fell pregnant with 3 more sets of twins, four sets of triplets and five sets of quadruplets. At the age of 36, she had given birth to 44 children, according to The Sun. Mariam actually only wanted 6 children but due to a rare genetic condition, Mariam kept getting pregnant with twins, triplets and quadruplets.
According to Mirror, gynecologist Dr. Charles Kiggundu described Mariam’s case as a “genetic predisposition to hyper-ovulate, which is releasing multiple eggs in one cycle, which significantly increases the chance of having multiples; it is always genetic.” apost Her children are the most important thing in Mariam’s life. She has three jobs to provide for her younger children. She works cutting people’s hair, decorating for events and collecting discarded metal that she later sells. Apart from all of that she also makes and sells her own gin as well as herbal medicine. Almost all of the money she earns is spent on food, clothes, medical care and education for her children.
Mariam wants her children to have a better life than herself and does everything to give them the opportunity to go to school and start their own life. She has pictures on the wall of all of her children who graduated from school. But caring for all of her children got way too much for Mariam, especially after her husband left her and the family after the last set of twins was born. Mariam needed some help and eventually had to make one of the older children to drop out of school to support the family. The family lives in four tiny houses made from cement bricks and an iron roof. Some of the children sleep on metal bunk beds, others on the floor with mattresses and the rest on the dirty floor.
All children who are still living with Mariam are helping their mother with the chores, by rotating the cooking and washing duties. A message in one of their tiny homes reads: “On Saturday, we all work together”. Mariam doesn’t have an easy life but her only wish in life is beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time: She just wants her children to be happy for she hasn’t felt much joy in her life. What do you think about Mariam’s story? Isn’t her love for her children inspiring? Let us know in the comments and be sure to pass this article along to others.