Vlad D Impeller
Commander
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2005
- Messages
- 2,644
Polygamy no fun, admits Ethiopian <br /><br /><br /> <br />Ayattu Nure: Do as I say, not as I do <br />An Ethiopian man with 11 wives and 77 children is urging people not to follow his example and is giving advice on family planning and contraception. <br />After seeing his fortune disappear under the competing demands of his enormous family, Ayattu Nure, 56, even urges people not to get married. <br /><br />"I want my children to be farmers but I have no land, I want them to go to school but I have no money," he says. <br /><br />But his eldest son has not heeded Mr Ayattu's advice and he has three wives. <br /><br />Share wealth <br /><br />Seven of Mr Ayattu's wives live in huts around his compound, which are in urgent need of renovation. <br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /> <br />Another four live in huts on the other side of the valley in Giwe Abossa village, 300km from the capital, Addis Ababa in Arsi region. <br /><br />He says he cannot remember all his children's names but tries to work out who they are from their mothers and which huts they live in. <br /><br />Mr Ayattu says he used to be rich and wanted to share his wealth around, which is why he took so many wives. <br /><br />But now he struggles to feed them all. <br /><br />"I feel like killing myself when I see my hungry children whom I cannot help," Mr Ayattu says. <br /><br />His wives have given birth to more than 100 children but 23 have died. <br /><br /><br />However, he blames Ethiopia's government for not doing more to help him look after all his children. <br /><br /><br />Ayattu Nure <br />"I know I have done wrong by marrying many wives and begetting many children but I think I deserve help from the government." <br /><br />But his biggest complaint at the moment is with the authorities of the local school which 40 of his children now attend. <br /><br />They want photographs for each of his children's files, which will further deplete his meagre resources. <br /><br />He says that he tries to share his time evenly between his wives and children, adding that although quarrels and squabbles are common, they try to solve their problems amicably. <br /><br />"People see me as a funny man, but there is no fun in my condition. I am a desperate man struggling to survive," he says. <br /><br />Although Mr Ayattu's eldest son, Dagne Ayattu, does not have a job, at the age of 33, he has seven children and is about to marry his fourth wife. <br /><br />But he says he will not have as many children or wives as his father.
