Conjoined twins born in small Cameroonian village
October 21, 2011
Evaristus Samba and Glory Njweng became proud parents of twins on October 10, much to their surprise. CNN reports that ultrasounds showed only one child growing in Glory's belly, so everyone was surprised when she gave birth to twins. Even more surprising was that the baby girls were joined at the chest and abdomen.
Surgical separation of conjoined twins is risky business in even the most advanced facilities, but in the remote Cameroon village of Tugi, there is ever less access to the proper equipment needed for such an operation, the news source reports.
"They are not my children alone, they are children of everybody," Evaristus said to CNN reporters. "I'm praying and crying for anybody to come help me."
These girls, who have not even been named yet, are not the first set of conjoined twins to be born in Cameroon. In 2007, twins born to a family in Babanki Tungo were successfully separated at a hospital in Saudi Arabia, the BBC reports. Their operation took 16 hours, and they each were left with one leg, but both girls are happy and healthy, which offers some hope to the new family in Tugi.
People can use international calling cards to make calls to Cameroon to talk to their friends about the twins as their story progresses.