Mariam Nabatanzi was sold into marriage at 12 and eventually gave birth to 40 children—a set of twins—a year later. Three more sets of twins followed, along with five sets of triplets and five sets of quadruplets.
Nabatanzi gave birth to 44 kids by age 40—and only once to a single child. Doctors have told the woman from Uganda that she has a rare medical condition that no family planning method can help.
She was told she had huge ovaries that released multiple eggs at once—a condition called hyperovulation.
“Her case is a genetic predisposition to hyper-ovulate—releasing multiple eggs in one cycle—which significantly increases the chances of having multiple births,” explained Dr Charles Kiggundu, a gynaecologist at Mulago Hospital in Kampala, to The Daily Monitor. Doctors said she could suffer health problems if she stopped giving birth.
Family sizes are already large in Uganda. According to the World Bank, the fertility rate averages out at 5.6 children per woman, one of Africa’s highest and more than double the global average of 2.4 children. But even in Uganda, the size of Nabatanzi’s family makes her an extreme outlier.
Absent for long stretches, her husband absconded with their savings and left the family behind.
It was just the latest setback in Nabatanzi’s life, which was marred by tragedy. She lived with her children in four cramped houses made of cement blocks and topped with corrugated iron in a village surrounded by coffee fields, 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of Kampala’s capital, when Reuters spoke to her in 2019.
She recounted the challenges of providing for her brood as a single working mother.
“I have grown up in tears; my man has passed me through a lot of suffering,” she said during an interview at her home, hands clasped as her eyes welled up. “All my time has been spent looking after my children and working to earn some money.”
Desperate for cash, Nabatanzi lends a hand to everything: hairdressing, event decorating, collecting and selling scrap metal, brewing local gin, and selling herbal medicine. The money is used for food, medical care, clothing, and school fees.
Nabatanzi cooks 25 kg of maize each day, she told Reuters. Fish and meat, she noted, are a rare treat.
In Nabatanzi’s home hang proudly portraits of some of her children graduating from school, gold tinsel around their necks.
“Mum is overwhelmed; the work is crushing her. We help where we can, like in cooking and washing, but she still carries the whole burden for the family. I feel for her,” said her eldest child, Ivan Kibuka, who is in his mid-20s and had to drop out of secondary school when the money ran out.
At 23, Nabatanzi already had 25 children and said she begged doctors to help her stop having any more. But yet again, she was told to keep getting pregnant because her ovary count was so high, the Mirror reported.
According to the Mayo Clinic, ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome can be “life-threatening,” causing “blood clots, kidney failure, twisting of the ovary, or breathing problems.” Although treatment is available, it is not commonly available in Nabatanzi’s home country.
Doctors reportedly advised Nabatanzi to stop having children after she had her last child three years ago. She said a doctor informed her he “cut my uterus from inside.”
Nabantanzi said her own mother abandoned her family and five brothers three days after she was born. At an early age, her stepmother mixed cut glass with the food of her older siblings. They all died.
Nabantanzi, who was visiting a relative then, dodged an untimely end. The experience, which was difficult for her younger self to understand, made her want to have a family to love, although she was hoping for no more than six children.
“I started taking on adult responsibilities early,” she said. “I have not had joy, I think, since I was born.”
Having endured such a hard childhood herself, Nabatanzi’s greatest wish now is for her children to be happy.
“Generally, I have tried to educate them. My dream is for my children to go to school. They can lack anything else, but they must go to school,” Nabatazni said in an Al Jazeera documentary.
“I can’t say they are nagging because they are my children. I can’t say I will abandon them because they are my children, and I love them,” she added.
*Additional reporting from Reuters
