If you have kids, you’ll probably agree that they cost a lot. To clothe, feed, entertain, and educate children, costs a lot of money. From books and toys to shoes and sandwiches, it can seem like there are always new things to buy.
Sure, the costs are worth it because kids are the best thing ever, but we’re saying this from an American point of view, where the average family has only two or three kids. What about a big family with a lot of kids?
In Uganda, it is legal to have more than one wife, and one man has really taken advantage of this. He has a lot more than just two or three wives. He has 12 wives right now.
People in Uganda don’t like birth control because they think it leads to promiscuity. Because of this, none of Musa Hasahya’s wives used it. As you might guess, that leads to more than one child. In fact, Hasahya has 102 kids who are between the ages of 6 and 51. Also, he has 568 grandchildren.
Hasahya’s wives haven’t used birth control until recently, but he wants that to change. He says he doesn’t want more kids anymore. His thinking isn’t as simple as saying that 102 kids are enough for him. No, he has a totally different reason, and it has to do with the cost of living.
A source says that 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.
Hasahya’s oldest child is about 20 years older than his youngest wife, Zulaika. She has given birth to 11 of his children, but she doesn’t want to have any more. She explained,
I’m not having any more children. I’ve seen the bad financial situation and am now taking the birth control pill.
Hasahya is a farmer, and about a third of his kids live with him on the farm right now. All of his wives live with him in the same house. According to Hasahya,
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 can’t work anymore because of his health, which makes inflation even worse for his very large family. Two of his wives are said to have left him because of how poor he is.
Having such a big family is hard in more ways than just money. Hasahya says he doesn’t know all of his children’s names.
Has inflation hurt your family in any way? Can you even imagine what it would be like to pay for the needs of 102 children?
