Mariam Nabatanzi Babirye also known as Mama Uganda or Mother Uganda, is a Ugandan woman known for birthing 44 children.
As of April 2023, her eldest children were twenty-eight years old, and the youngest was six years old.
She is a single mother, who was abandoned by her husband in 2015. He reportedly feared the responsibility of supporting so many children.
Born around 1980, Babirye first gave birth when she was 13 years old, having been forced into marriage the year prior. By the age of 36, she had given birth to a total of 44 children, including three sets of quadruplets, four sets of triplets, and six sets of twins, for a total of fifteen births.
The number of multiple births was caused by a rare genetic condition causing hyperovulation as a result of enlarged ovaries.
At the age of twenty-three, she had given birth to twenty-five children but was advised to continue giving birth, as it would help reduce further fertility.
In 2019, when Babirye was aged 40, she underwent a medical procedure to prevent any further pregnancies. She lives in the village of Kasawo, located in the Mukono district of Central Uganda.
After she gave birth to forty-two children, her husband ran away from her due to his inability to provide for a large number of children, and he later sold off the homestead where Babirye and her children were living. She and her children were later hosted by her grandmother.
She later realized that her absentee husband had left her pregnant with twins. Babirye’s grandmother died shortly after, leaving Babirye in a chaotic scramble for the homestead with other relatives, but they later agreed that Babirye could take full ownership of the homestead via installation payments; as of April 2023, she still owes a balance before she can assume full ownership of the homestead according to reports.
Babirye is currently a single mother, caring for her children by herself.
In Uganda, some communities practice early child marriages, where a young girl is given off to an older man in exchange for a dowry that most frequently consists of cows. Babirye’s marriage was an example of this.
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Source: wikipedia.com
