"At first it was a joke... but now it's trouble," says Musa Hasahya Kesera, a Ugandan father of 102 who admits it's getting harder every day to meet their needs... or even
remember their names.
At 68 years old, he heads a family of 12 women,
102 children
(the youngest under 10 and the oldest over 50) and
578 grandchildren.
He has become quite the attraction in his village, Bugisa, in eastern Uganda.
But he assures that he wants to stop and have no more.
"I have already learned the lesson of my irresponsible attitude, of having had so many children that I cannot take care of," he confesses.
Musa Hasahya does not remember the names of his children and their wives (AFP).
His large family lives in a very dilapidated house with a tin roof and
about twenty
adobe cabins located nearby.
"With my weak health and less than one hectare of land for such a large family, two of my wives have left because I could not provide for them with the most essential things, such as food, education or clothing," says the father of the family. , unemployed.
To prevent the family from growing further, their wives take contraceptives.
He doesn't take care of himself, she says.
Polygamy is authorized
in Uganda.
First child in 1973
Musa Hasahya Kesera was married for the first time in 1972, when he was 17 years old, through a traditional ceremony.
Her first child was born a year later.
"As we were only two children (in his family), my brother, my parents and my friends advised me to marry several women to have many children and
increase our family wealth
," he explains.
Attracted by his status as a cattle dealer and butcher, several locals offered him the hand of their daughters, some of them
still minors
(a practice prohibited since 1995).
At 68, he heads a family of 12 women, 102 children (the youngest under 10 and the oldest over 50) and 578 grandchildren (AFP).
Over the years,
he can no longer even identify his own children
.
"I only remember the names of the first born and the last, I don't remember most of the others," she confesses, going through piles of old notebooks to find details about their births.
"It's their mothers that help me identify them," she says.
The man admits that he also has a hard time
remembering the names of some of his wives.
He has to ask one of his sons, Shaban Magino, a 30-year-old teacher, to help manage the family affairs.
He is one of the few children of his who went to school.
To resolve disputes, which are not lacking in the family, a meeting is organized every month (AFP).
To resolve disputes, which are not lacking in the family,
a meeting is organized every month.
The people of Bugisa live largely from agriculture, with small crops of rice, cassava and coffee, and livestock.
In Musa Hasahya Kesera's family, some try to earn money or food by doing chores for their neighbors or spend the day collecting firewood and water, often walking long distances.
To prevent the family from growing further, their wives take contraceptives.
He doesn't take care of himself, she says (AFP).
Others stay at home.
The women weave mats or braid their hair, while the men
play cards in the shade of a tree.
When lunch (most often boiled cassava) is ready, the father of the family comes out of his hut and shouts for his relatives to get in line to eat.
"But we hardly have enough food. We are obliged to feed the children once, or twice on good days," explains Zabina, the third wife of Musa Hasahya Kesera, who says she would never have married had she known that her husband had other wives.
Musa has become quite the attraction in her village, Bugisa, in eastern Uganda (AFP).
"He brought the fourth, then the fifth, and so on until he got to twelve,"
he says, sighing.
Only seven still live with him in Bugisa.
Two left and three went to another town, two kilometers away, because what the family farm provides is not enough for everyone to eat.
AFP Agency.
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