Triplets facing starvation after helpless mother is abandoned

Ms Jane Kabugho with her triplets at her brother’s home in Kikonzo Cell in Railway Ward, Kasese Municipality.
Photo By Enid Ninsiima

What you need to know:

Fright. Their father abandoned his wife when he realised she was pregnant with them

Kasese.

They are three bundles of joy, but the triplets 31-year-old Jane Kabugho gave birth to are demanding much more than she expected.

Kabugho, a resident in Kikonzo Cell of Railway Ward in the Central Division of Kasese municipality, gave birth to the triplets three months ago and is struggling to provide for them as she hardly has anything to her name.

When Daily Monitor run her story on Wednesday, February 25, readers called in to convey their sympathies, ask for what her needs are and how they could help.

A second visit was made to Ms Kabugho’s home and this reporter found her carrying all three babies while seated in the sitting room.

Kabugho told this reporter that she was abandoned by the father of the children when he realised she was carrying triplets.

“I cannot trace him now but he used to tell me that his name was Tumusiime. I was taken up by my brother Mr Emmanuel Mbondi who people think is my husband since he has carried the burden,” Kabugho narrates.

Kabugho who delivered two boys and one girl says that she had been with Tumusiime for two years.

Even then, she does not know his other name or where he lives because, she says, he had never told her those details for all the time they were together. Now, she has to depend on her brother for all the help she needs. “I stay alone without a maid,” she says.

Kabugho has no kind words for the children’s father, saying he looked like a conman who had never showed interest in taking her to his home.

“These triplets are my third born, I produced them after divorcing my first husband,” she narrates.

Kabugho says she has failed to feed the children well because her breast milk is not enough since she also misses meals.
“Even when I happen to get food, it’s not a good enough meal that a mother of triplets should feed on,” she says.

She is jobless and unable to do any kind of vending in the markets because she has to stay at home to look after the children.

Kabugho is also finding it difficult to provide necessities like medical care and clothing. The children are now fed on packed milk which she buys depending on alms she receives. Mbondi her brother, says he has to buy 12 jerricans of water daily which costs Shs2,400, on top of other necessities, costs that he says overwhelm him.

“I am a porter at Kanyangeya brick-laying and I cannot provide everything she needs. She pushed one baby and was operated on for the other two. She is helpless now and needs my help all the time but I cannot do all that since I must find a way to provide for our meals daily,” Mbondi says.

Kabugho’s plea is to be able to get a business to start so she can be able to provide for her children. She would eventually like to get her own house in which she can raise the young ones.

To help her
Those who would like to help Jane Kabugho can call on her phone number 0789429491.