Maria and Consolata Mwakikuchi, Siamese twins of a rare type - with one body for two, two arms, two legs and two heads, died in Tanzania last weekend. The 21-year-old girls died after a long illness.
The sisters became famous all over the world in September last year, when they successfully entered a Tanzanian university and began to attend lectures like ordinary students. In Tanzania, where people with disabilities receive little help from the state, and parents abandon children with developmental abnormalities at birth, this has become a very big event.
Maria and Consolata wanted to become history teachers and also taught English and Swahili. In January, their health was shattered, rumored to be due to heart (or heart) problems and did not improve after months of treatment.
“I am saddened by the death of Maria and Consolata. The last time I visited them in the hospital, they prayed for our people. My condolences to their family. Rest in peace, my children,”Tanzanian President John Magufuli tweeted.
The twins were abandoned by their mother immediately after birth and were taken care of by a Catholic mission. The girls managed to survive and live to adulthood, although their rare anomaly is considered deadly even in more developed countries.
Due to the great difficulty in surgical separation, many of this type of twins are afraid to operate and often die of medical problems. Only a few survive and each such case becomes a medical phenomenon.
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In an emotional interview on state television last July, Maria urged parents of disabled children not to hide or lock them up in their homes.
“They need to know that they are human beings like healthy people and have the same rights,” she said.
In the same interview, the sisters thanked their teachers who helped them through high school, as well as the government that provided them with a vehicle to take them to school every day.
