ETHIOPIA: Ayatu Nure followed age-old tradition and took twelve wives now he struggles to feed his 78 family members.

Record ID: 452820

  • Title: ETHIOPIA: Ayatu Nure followed age-old tradition and took twelve wives now he struggles to feed his 78 family members.
  • Date: 20th March 2009
  • Summary: AYATU'S YOUNG FAMILY MEMBER TAKING OFF TROUSERS HE HAD BEEN TRYING ON AYATU AND SONS WALKING AWAY
  • Embargoed: 4th April 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ethiopia
  • Country: Ethiopia
  • Topics: Lifestyle
  • Reuters ID: LVAEFQLUU8PWW9BG4SUILVKMC32M
  • Story Text: In Ethiopia's remote, densely-populated region of Oromiya, it's common for men to have at least four wives as long as they can provide for them and their children.
    Local landowner Ayatu Nure has 12 wives and 78 children.
    Harmony reigns among his many wives, who divide their time with him among themselves.

    "Some say I need to spend two days with each of them. Some say one day is enough. I discuss it with them, and they decide," Ayatu says.
    But Ayatu looks back to better times when he had more money to feed and educate his family members.

    "Life was easy for me before. I had land, property and money. I could feed all of them," he said.
    But all that changed when Ayatu saw the land that he'd inherited from his father shrink to just 10 hectares.
    For each new wife that he took, he sold land or cattle to meet the dowry payment, typically 500 to 1,000 US dollars. What was left was not enough to maintain his large family.
    Having many children is a sign of a man's wealth in this part of the world. But for Ayatu, it backfired. Now he is paying the price - poverty.
    Once a week, Ayatu makes his way to the market in Kofale some 25 kilometres from his home.
    But sometimes his money is just not enough to pay for basic needs of his family.
    On one occasion recently Ayatu wanted to buy one of his younger son a new pair of trousers. But he could not afford the price of 60 birr (six US dollars) asked by the vendor at a market stall in Kofale.
    Ten of Ayatu's teenage boys have had to leave secondary school because Ayatu could not pay the annual boarding cost of roughly 1,300 US dollars for all of them, Sending his girls to school proved difficult also. So he decided to marry off two of his 15-year-old daughters to ease the burden.

    "I cannot afford their food, clothing, school materials and rent.
    I have a big problem. There is no more property and I am getting tired"
    he said.
    Ayatu's first wife, Ende, is also 65 years old. They married when they were both 15. She bore him ten children, seven of whom survived.
    Despite their economic hardship, Ende bears him no grudge for making her share her husband and their resources with so many others.

    "I loved him. I married him. I had his children. Why should I hate him now?" she said.
    Ayatu said:
    "She's my first wife; the one I married when I was young. She's my life."
    The polygamist's' last wife, Zenaba, has three children. She wanted to marry Ayatu in spite of his reversal of fortune.
    Not willing to leave the size of her family to fate, she is now taking contraceptives.
    To assist women like Ayatu's wives, the Ethiopian government has launched a network of 29,000 health extension workers who teach both men and women about family planning.
    Two of Ayatu's wives are using long-term contraceptive implants. Many women in remote villages opt for this method because of the distance between their homes and health centres.
    The local men, including Ayatu, are also interested in learning more about choosing when and when not to have children.
    Ayatu bemoans his reversal of fortune and is plagued by worries about his family's prospects now that his circumstances are so much reduced.

    "The day turned black on me. When I see my children hungry…when I am able to clothe one and not another or they go without eating. Can I eat when they're not eating?" he said.
    Ayatu's family is outsized even by Ethiopian standards where having at least five children per mother is the norm. With the population of the country now at 73 million, Dr. Monique Rakotomalala of the United Nations Population Fund in Ethiopia is concerned.

    "They cannot sustain a 2.7 percent population growth rate per year. That means two million new people every year," Rakotomalala said.
    At this rate, the population could double over the next 24 years, severely stretching existing resources.
    Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, Ethiopian Minister of Health, says the solution to the problem lies in encouraging smaller families.

    "We have to educate our communities and tell them the benefits of having less children."
    Using his own experience as a guide, Ayatu, who has lived his life after a traditional fashion, is a supporter the government's policy of encouraging smaller families for economic reasons.

    POLYGAMY
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