Gladys Bulinya, Kenyan Mother, 'Cursed' With Six Sets Of Twins

Even the best mothers admit to struggling with their children every now and then, but Gladys Bulinya could likely put many of them to shame with her staggering brood.

As the BBC is reporting, the Kenyan mom has borne a whopping 12 children -- six sets of non-identical twins born between 1993 and last year. But the 35-year-old Bulinya, who lives alone with 10 of her 12 children -- six girls and four boys -- in a one-roomed grass-thatched house in the village of Nzoia, says her situation is intensified by a local belief that twins are cursed by a divine jinx.

After being abandoned by her husband last year and disowned by her relatives, Bulinya recently agreed to undergo sterilization, despite the procedure being against her religion, as she could not cope with more children. "I am a Catholic," she told the BBC. "When I made the decision, I asked for God's forgiveness and I am sure God understands and will forgive me for doing that."

When Bulinya gave birth to her first set of twins in 1993, her own family ordered her to leave the babies at the hospital for adoption, as the Bukusu people, to which her family belongs, believe that unless one twin in a set dies, it means certain death for one or both parents. Luckily, Ms Bulinya says, when her boyfriend's father (who is from a different ethnic group, the Kalenjin) learned his sons had been abandoned, he took them in and has cared for them ever since. She met her now 17-year-old sons two years ago.

Though Bulinya has been married twice, both husbands abandoned her shortly after she bore more twins. And even local benefactors are critical of her situation. "The lady should have undergone sterilization after discovering that men were using and dumping her," Margaret Khanyunya, director of St. Iddah Academy where one of the children is attending school, told the BBC.

Comments

[DictionaryDiva]

09:13 PM on 01/30/2011

I would be very interested in 'sponsoring' or otherwise helping this woman.

[Yve72]

01:30 PM on 01/30/2011

I feel bad her for her having to deal with that ignorant stigma.
Its not a curse.
She has clearly outdone my family.
My great-great-great-grandparents (who both lived into their 80's) had 4 sets of twins out of 14 children.

[Said One]

12:43 PM on 01/30/2011

Contraception is key - these kids don't deserve to be born into poverty with virtually no chance for a better life in most cases.

The word - needs to be spread - proper family planning and contraception

[royevatom]

11:33 AM on 01/30/2011

This is amazing, I was watching a documentary about Lagos, Nigeria.
16 million people?
One man was said to have 18 children.
World population should negate all other issues in a very few years.

[Kim Visan]

10:53 AM on 01/30/2011

For women in certain parts of the world to not have information and access to birth control is a shame! It's just another way to keep women under control!

[henrypapillon]

09:42 AM on 01/30/2011

The men  should have undergone sterilization, and been forced to pay child support.

[FabulousPoodle]

08:33 AM on 01/30/2011

So she got pregnant while unmarried in high school, and has apparently been divorced, but getting sterilized after 12 kids was a big moral dilemma as a Catholic? And the men who abandoned her and the people shunning her probably consider themselves to have clean hands morally, because at least they're not using birth control.

[harriettubman]

12:33 AM on 01/30/2011

The men running the Catholic and Muslim religions should be ashamed for coercing women to bring children in the world they can't even feed under the guise of religion. No mission on earth is validated for begging the world to feed these helpless children who didn't ask to come here.

No wonder there are no female priests or Imams. The men couldn't live with change within the religion and the men finally having to answer why females are always subjugated to unreasonable doctrine.

[Jeannie Lin]

09:07 PM on 01/29/2011

Call me a cold hearted woman.. I'll care about these starving nations when they learn how to use birth control..

[niko73]

09:31 PM on 01/29/2011

You need to understand the forces that cause people in Kenya to have children. The poor need as much labor in their family as possible. More people to tend the small farm plot and produce desperately needed food. There is no retirement or social security, so they need children to take care of them when they get too old to work.

Plus, how is it their fault if they don't know about birth control? And how is it their fault if they can't get access to birth control? And how is it a woman's fault when her husband doesn't let her use birth control? I knew a woman who hid her BC pills and took them in secret. Without empowerment of women, they have little control over their reproductive freedom. It's a bit pretentious of an outsider to judge people like that without stepping into their shoes.

[guendy]

02:14 AM on 01/30/2011

Right on. Birth control for us is the norm, but in many countries birth control is unheard of. Can't blame women who do not have the resources we do.

[Ddayv825]

03:41 AM on 01/30/2011

So tell her husband or should we talk to the :" forces " to which you refer. Neither of which will give any immediate response. Tell me, what would happen if we saved every
person on our planet. Keep people living longer, obliterate life threatening disease, allow unrestrained birth ? Sorry to sound heartless but what happens to anyone where there is limited resources....have more planned reproduction ?? i do feel sorry for the innocent. It is not their fault and they are the ones that suffer. China has the right approach. Have more countries follow their lead. Do they dare ??

[foxbat]

07:43 PM on 01/29/2011

Gladys Bulinya, Kenyan Mother, 'Cursed' With Six Sets Of Twins

Her uterus is in the Smithsonian ... draped over the Spirit of St. Louis.

With all due credit to the late Dennis Wolfberg

[shespeaks]

07:40 PM on 01/29/2011

All too unamazing that her religion coerces her into believing she has to keep bearing children, but makes no provision for how they will be expected to live. Shame on Christians and the Catholic church for the mischief that they make with the insistence on reproductive ignorance and lack of restraint that they carry to the rest of the world in the name of God.

[harriettubman]

12:36 AM on 01/30/2011

I've worked with them and they believe it to their core. They believe the more children, the more blessings.

And with all of the cultural myths in Africa, you don't know what to believe.

[1laingirl]

04:10 PM on 01/29/2011

This is a sad story for many reasons. The primary problem being lack of education and too much religious indoctrination.

[GraniteSkyline]

03:52 PM on 01/29/2011

Is everybody feeling the Christian love in this story?

Unfortunately in many parts of the world one twin is perceived to be good and the other e vil. The "e vil" one gets abused or even killed. I hope someone can intervene to help this woman.

[mashtoe]

06:47 PM on 01/29/2011

And guess who would likely intervene...yes, a Christian. I'm not even of the faith but you have to admit that of the major faiths Christians are the one's most likely to reach out to the poor. Next would be Muslims. Muslims have stepped up their charity efforts for sure. But the thing I have learned from the Buddha is that the more we love the more we hate. If there is a group that I want to protect then there is a group I will want to harm. There is no perfect answer.

[El Confusado]

03:09 PM on 01/29/2011

Remember "Octomom"? Meet Lotsomom.

[Red45]

02:08 PM on 01/29/2011

What a sad story of ignorance and the damage it can do. Twins are a double blessing.