If you are a parent, you probably can agree with the idea that children are expensive. It takes you a lot of money to clothe, feed, entertain and educate children. From books and toys to shoes and sandwiches, the expenses can seem never ending.
The expenses are worth it since children are truly the best thing, but we’re expressing this from an American mindset where a typical family only has 2 or 3 children. What about a family with dozens of children?
In Uganda where polygamy is legal, one man there has truly taken advantage of that fact. He doesn’t just have two or three wives but currently has 12 wives.
dpa via ZUMA Press
In Uganda, Birth control is frowned upon as it is believed that it causes promiscuity, so during Musa Hasahya’s marriages, none of his wives were on birth control. As a result, multiple children were born. In fact, Hasahya has 102 children ranging in age from 6 to 51. He also has 568 grandchildren.
Until recently, though none of Hasahya’s wives have been on birth control, he wants that to change. He claims that he doesn’t want any more children anymore. His reasoning is not as simple as 102 being enough children for him. No, he has another entirely different reason – cost of living.
As per The Sun, Hasahya said, “My income has become lower and lower over the years due to the rising cost of living and my family has become bigger and bigger.”
Zulaika, Hasahya’s youngest wife, is about 20 years younger than his oldest child. She has given birth to 11 of his children, yet she no longer plans to have any more children.
“I’m not having any more children. I’ve seen the bad financial situation and am now taking the birth control pill.”, she explained.
Hasahya is a farmer and about one third of his children currently live with him on the farm. His wives also live with him all in one house.
“All my wives live together in the same house. It’s easy for me to monitor them and also stop them eloping with other men in this village.”, Hasahya said.
Because of his health, Hasahya is no longer working, which makes the impact of inflation even harder on his extremely large family. Two of his wives have reportedly left him because of the financial situation.
Financial strains aren’t the only challenges to having such a large family. Hasahya adds that he doesn’t know the names of all of his children.
