Njeru mother stuck with triplets

Giving birth to triplets was supposed to bring happiness in Rose Nalumu's life but this was not the case. The 22-year-old finds herself between a rock and a hard place after her husband abandoned her.

All seemed well between Nalumu and her fiancée in their muzigo (bed-sit) which they rented in Njeru West parish, Buikwe district, until she delivered the triplets by caesarean section on May 30. According to Eria Mukasa, the LCI chief of Nakibizzi, Ismail Mayega, the father of the triplets, was overwhelmed by the number of babies and ran away.

"He abandoned the jobless mother with the babies and has not been seen since then. His mobile phones are switched off," Mukasa says.

Mukasa observes that some cultures think having triplets is a bad omen and that this could have been the reason Mayega vanished.

Nalumu sas that the only thing he hastily managed to do before vanishing was to name his sons. "He named them Farouk Kambugu, Faisal Bugingo and Fazir Mayega.

He kept complaining about how they were proving to be expensive and then disappeared," Nalumu adds.

To cope, Nalumu is working as a part-time waitress at a restaurant in the nearby Jinja town. She has also brought in her younger sister, Teopista Nakyazze, to tend to the triplets while she is away earning a living.

"The breast milk is not enough. Actually all of them cry to suckle at the same time, making it difficult to feed them efficiently as my breast milk quickly runs out," she adds. Nalumu earns a paltry sh2,000 per day, with which she buys millet flour and cow's milk to boost the babies' feeding.

"A two-litre flask of millet porridge only lasts about four hours. At night, it is worse as the cries never cease when the food container runs dry," Nalumu narrates.

Poor feeding seems to be taking its toll on the toddlers as the shape of their tummies looks worrying.

Dr Geoffrey Kazaraki of St. Charles Lwanga Buikwe Hospital attributes this to giving solid foods to the babies before they clock six months.

"It is advisable to feed the babies on purely breast milk for the first six months before other foods are introduced. When the pattern is interfered with, the young ones suffer from malnutrition," Kazaraki warns. He appeals to fathers not to abandon their responsibilities.

"The current condition of the mother is definitely bound to affect the children in one way or another. It requires both parents to be around and ensure proper growth of the triplets," he says.

Nalumu is also struggling to meet her rent obligations. She has had to leave her former abode (where she had rent arrears of sh200,000) and move to a less costly apartment in Naminya trading centre on Kayunga Road.

"I now reside in a room that costs me sh20,000 per month. Any extra money helps me foot some of the domestic bills and buy the much needed food," she says.

Nalumu is, however, determined to raise her triplets and says she can never hand them over for adoption no matter the circumstances.

"Some questionable Good Samaritans approached me, but instead asked me to give them the children for adoption, which angered me. How can I just forfeit parenthood of my sweet babies like that?" Nalumu wondered.

Mukasa believes well-wishers coming to the aid of Nalumu could be the only solution to help out the desperate woman.

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