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What it means to raise three sets of twins in rural Uganda
Muhammad Kalekona Kaduyu with his three sets of twins at his home in Kitwe, Kyeizoba Bushenyi district. PHOTO BY FELIX AINEBYOONA.
What you need to know:
- Blessings. Deep in Nyarutuntu Village, Kyeizooba -Bushenyi District is Muhammad Kalekona Kaduyu,48, and Zuraih Kankundiye, 32.
- They share how they have managed to raise their three sets of twins despite the biting economy, writes FELIX AINEBYOONA.
Traditionally if a man had twins in the village, he would be respected. In the early 90s, fathers of twins were exempted from communal work and graduated tax. People used to do many rituals to prevent themselves from being affected by the birth of twins believed to be twin burns.
Muhammad Kalekona Kaduyu, 48, a resident of Nyarutuntu village, Bushenyi District married Zuraih Kankundiye, 32, in 2006. Little did Kaduyu know that he had won himself a queen of twins. They had four pairs consecutively which he says is God’s blessings even though some people look at it as a punishment from God.
First born arrives
Kankundiye, conceived eight months after getting married to Kaduyu in September 2006.
“My pregnancy was okay before the stomach became very big at five months. I was worried. A doctor at one of the family planning facilities in Bushenyi advised me to go for a scan in Ishaka Town. At the hospital, they told us that we had twins. It was both exciting and scary as it was my first pregnancy,” Kankundiye recalls.
However, she followed the doctor’s advice and delivered normally at Ishaka Adventist Hospital only that it was two months before due date.
The babies needed to be incubated but there was no incubator at the facility and so the couple was referred to Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital. However, the couple did not have sufficient funds but improvised traditional means.
“Their grandmother would boil three litres of water and put it in small jerrycans which would be put between the children to emit warmth to the babies. This lasted two months. It was not the end, I had to lie close to them until they turned nine months,’’ Kankundiye explains.
For Kaduyu, having twins was not a unique experience since some of his family members had them and gladly he had knowledge on how to raise premature babies. “My relatives used to stuff millet chaff in pieces of cloth and shape the clothes like a womb. They would wrap children in the swaddling for warmth.”
Their first set of twins Daudah Abanaitwe Waswa and Halimah Owembabazi Nyakato are nine years old in Primary Three at Rwentuha Primary School in Igara East, Bushenyi District.
Second blessing
Not long after, Kankundiye conceived again. In the olden days, this was abominable as consecutive twin births was regarded as a curse. She was afraid of being ostracized. “My second pregnancy was fine and I only went to Kabwohe at ICOBI in the eighth month. On examining me, the doctor said I had twins but one of them was not positioned properly. They advised me to go for a scan. My husband had been transferred from Rwentuha in Sheema District to Kamulinda Primary School and we were living together at his workplace,” she recalls. Her husband had earlier asked a friend to drive them to the hospital the next morning since doctors had talked of the poor posture of the foetus thinking she would be operated on at birth.
Kankundiye went into early labour the night before the planned date. But, because of the security situation in the village they had to wait for the next day.
They used public means to KIU Teaching Hospital in Ishaka- Bushenyi. “At the hospital gate near the ambulance parking, I felt a tiny bottom and then two legs unfurl ed themselves from my body. My baby was breech. And the second one came out normally, Kankundiye recalls.
Her husband interjects, “ Of course, I had enough money on me given that my wife anticipated an operation. I was surprised that we had a second set of twins without good spacing. The girl was put on oxygen for two days because she had difficulty in breathing. We spent only Shs 70,000. Despite that, I’m a happy father and as you can see them [Kaduyu points at a girl and a boy playing in their earth compound] happy. Raihani Komugisha and Farakhani Mugisha are seven years now,” he says.
Attempt at a third born
The couple had contemplated to stop having children but because of the traditional belief that twins must be followed by one more child [Kiiza or Nyamwiza, in Ankole] they went ahead.
“This time her stomach was very enlarged by five months and we went for scanning at Ndekye Clinic in Rubirizi District since I had been posted to Rugyenda Primary School. We were told that she had twins again. We did the usual wait,” says Kaduyu. The pregnancy seemed normal and they had two handsome boys; Farouq Muhumuza and Fahad Mugabe. After delivery the couple got struck by Muhumuza’s condition; both limbs and arms were fused with the chest. “His arms were corrected after plastering him; the legs normalised slowly as he started sitting and crawling,’’ Kaduyu recalls.
“I should have taken him for treatment but that very year I was struck off the payroll even though KIU had recommended to us a Kenyan doctor who wanted to operate on him so that he walks properly. I could not raise Shs 1m. We took him to Ruharo hospital in Mbarara who referred us to CORSU on Entebbe Road and before this year ends I will take him for treatment,’’ Kaduyu said.
In 2015, Kakundiye was running a restaurant in Kitwe Trading Centre. She fell pregnant again with twins who were born at 32 weeks. Unfortunately, they died right after birth under unclear circumstances. “Doctors said the heavy work I was doing might have affected the babies while in the womb,’’ Kakundiye said.
Despite the twin blessings, Kaduyu and Kankundiye did not perform any rituals like most people are fond of doing at birth or death of twins.
Throughout the time they brought forth life, the couple had never thought about family planning. Kakundiye got pregnant again.
“I did not go for scanning until delivery day; Wednesday September 17, 2016. Doctors at KIU Hospital asked to scan before delivery to rule out twins or any other complications. Fortunately, I felt relieved after discovering that I finally had got only one baby. We thanked God for answering our prayer,” Kakundiye smiles.
Father’s belief
“My conviction is that when you live your life moderately, you can succeed and all the basic needs can be obtained basically and educating my children, dressing them is not my worry but my worry is that our occupation of rearing livestock and agriculture is not as valuable,” says Kaduyu.
He adds: “I think God loves me because many people want children and they have failed to get and many have died before producing any but for me, God gives me in full swing and He has been able to sail me through even if I have not reached the end.’’
How the family manages...
Kaduyu, a primary school teacher, says having twins is expensive as expenditure doubles for the basic necessities. He advises men to support their wives. “I had to give my wife necessary support through hard financial times.
Kankundiye interjects,“I was afraid that my husband would run away because of the big responsibility that comes with raising twins. However, he stuck by me,” adding: “My mother consoled me saying having twins was not a curse like other people were saying since she had produced three sets of twins as well as my husband’s uncle. I got reassurance that I could take care of my children,’’ Kakundiye said.
• Kaduyu realised the need to support his family by planting eucalyptus trees and coffee to supplement his meagre teaching income.
•He is religious and does not believe in superstition. Instead of allowing people’s views to override his faith, he has focused on how to manage his family. “I planted 1,500 coffee seedlings, and 2,000 eucalyptus trees as my mother kept cows to provide us with milk for both the family and sale. Coffee farming also helps us financially even if it has not yet reached at the maximum yield,’’ he says.
DOCTOR SAYS
The numbers of multiple pregnancies have increased over the last 20 years. This increase is primarily due to the fact that one-third of women who are having babies are over the age of 30, and these women are more likely to conceive multiples.
The increase in multiples is due to fertility drugs and fertility procedures. There are two basic types of multiples: identical/monozygotic and fraternal/dizygotic.
The most common type of multiples is fraternal/dizygotic multiples. Dizygotic multiples occur commonly with infertility treatments. The increase of fraternal multiples is also due to the fact that older women are more likely to have multiples, and many women today are conceiving at a later age.
Other women who have an increased chance of fraternal multiples include those who have a higher body mass index (BMI), have recently discontinued hormonal birth control, and those who have had more babies.
Higher order multiples (triplets, quadruplets) are all a variation of identical or fraternal multiples. For example, triplets can result from one zygote (an egg fertilised by one sperm) dividing into three. This means that the triplets would be genetically identical.
Triplets could also occur if one of two zygotes divide in half. This would mean that two of the triplets would be genetically identical while the third child is considered a fraternal multiple. Similar scenarios occur in quadruplets and other forms of multiples.
The occurrence of identical multiples is considered a random event and is not influenced by age, race, or heredity. Identical multiples occur in 3 to four of every 1,000 live births.Compiled by Beatrice Nakibuuka
