IRINGA: Maria and Consolata Mwakikuti the world’s most famous conjoined twins from Tanzania are dead; this came as a result of respiratory complications they succumbed. This followed being rushed to one of the local hospital in Iringa regional hospital where their death occurred Saturday night.
The Iringa District Commissioner, Richard Kisesela, confirmed that the twins passed on Saturday night and ensued that they shared a liver and lungs but each of them had their own hands and heart.
Maria and Consolata shared a very strong bond which made them refuse to be separated, they vowed to live and die together. They had hopes of getting married together.
Maria and Consolata Mwakikuti, conjoined at the abdomen, become minor celebrities in Tanzania where the media had closely followed their path through high school.
Their admission to the Ruaha Catholic University in Iringa in September 2017 had marked a first in a country where disabled people.
They had begun a course in education with a view to becoming teachers in History, English and Swahili, when they became ill in January, notably suffering from cardiac problems.
“I am saddened by the death of twins, Maria and Consolata. When I last visited them at hospital they prayed for the nation. My condolences to their family. Rest in peace my children,” President John Magufuli tweeted.
After an apparent improvement in their health, the sisters continued their treatment at a hospital near their university, where they died on Saturday night.
About the conjoined twins Maria and Consolata
The twins were abandoned by their mother after the death of their father, and later taken in by a Catholic mission.
In an emotional statement on state television last July, Maria urged parents not to “hide or lock up their handicapped children.”
“They must know that as human beings, handicapped or not, are equal and have the same rights,” she said.
At the time, the sisters, who enjoyed knitting and cooking together, thanked the teachers who helped them through high school, as well as the government who provided a vehicle to take them from their home to school each day.
“We didn’t expect this day to come, it is by the grace of God that we are here today,” said Consolata, the chattier of the two, beaming with confidence on their admission to university.
It’s so sad that they have died without the fulfillment of their dreams.
May their souls rest in eternal peace.
