Mariam Nabatanzi, a 40-year-old woman from Uganda’s Mukono District has been dubbed the African country’s most fertile woman after it was reported that she has given birth to 44 children.
In her home village of Kabimbiri, central Uganda, Mariam Nabatanzi is known as Nalongo Muzaala Bana (the twin mother that produces quadruplets) and that nickname is well-earned.
In the 18 years that she spent being pregnant throughout her 40 year life, the woman has given birth to six sets of twins, four sets of triplets, three sets of quadruples, as well as a few single births.
Out of the 44 children that she brought into this world, 38 are still alive today, most of them still living at the family home. Mariam is a single mother, and although providing for such a large family, she somehow manages to put enough food on the table for everyone.
Mariam’s life has never been easy. At age 12, she was married off to a man 28 years her senior, after surviving an assassination attempt by her stepmother. She claims that the woman put crushed glass in the food and managed to kill her four siblings.
She only survived because she was away at the time, but her parents still managed to get rid of her, by marrying her off to a much older man who physically abused her whenever she said or did something he didn’t like.
“My husband was polygamous with many children from his past relationships who I had to take care of because their mothers were scattered all over,” Mariam said.
Adding that, “He was also violent and would beat me at any opportunity he got even when I suggested an idea that he didn’t like.”
