“Enough,” says a 68-year-old man with 102 children in Uganda.

“At first it was a joke […] but now it’s a problem,” he says. Musa Hasahya KeseraUgandan father 102 years old children who realizes that it’s getting harder every day to meet their needs… or even remember their names.

At 68, he leads a family of 12 women, 102 children, the youngest under 10 and the oldest over 50, and 578 grandchildren.

He has become a real attraction in his village of Bugisa in the east of the country. Uganda. But he assures that he wants to stop and eat no more. “I have already learned [la lección] because of my irresponsible attitude, because I had so many children I can’t take care,” he admits.

His extended family lives in a very dilapidated tin-roofed house with about twenty adobe huts nearby.

“With my poor health and less than one hectare of land for such a large family, my two wives left because I could not provide them with the most necessary things: food, education or clothing,” says the father of the family, who is unemployed.

To prevent the family from growing further, their wives take contraceptives. He doesn’t take care of himself, he says.

monthly family meetings

Polygamy is allowed in Uganda.

Musa Hasahya Kesera he married for the first time in 1972, when he was 17, in a traditional ceremony. her first son he was born a year later.

“Because there were only two of us children (in his family), my brother, my parents and my friends advised me to marry several women in order to have many children and increase the well-being of our family,” he explains.

Attracted by his status as a cattle dealer and butcher, several locals offered him the hand of their daughters, some of whom were still underage (a practice banned since 1995).

Over the years, he can no longer even identify his own children.

“I only remember the names of the first and last, I don’t remember most of the others,” she admits, sorting through stacks of old notebooks to find details about their births. “It is their mothers who help me identify them,” he says.

The man admits that he also has difficulty remembering the names of some of his wives. You must ask one of your children, Shaban Magino, 30-year-old teacher to help him manage family affairs. This is one of his few children who went to school.

To resolve disputes, which are enough in the family, a monthly meeting is organized.

daily food

The inhabitants of Bugisa live mainly from agriculture, growing small crops of rice, cassava and coffee, and livestock.

in family Musa Hasahya KeseraSome try to earn money or food by doing housework for their neighbors, or spend the day looking for firewood and water, often traveling long distances.

Others stay at home. The women weave mats or braid their hair, while the men play cards under the shade of a tree.

When dinner is ready—most often boiled cassava—the father of the family comes out of his hut and yells to his relatives to get in line for food.

“But we barely have enough food. We have to feed children once or twice on good days,” explains Zabina, the third wife Musa Hasahya Keserawho claims that she would never have married if she knew that her husband had other women.

“He brought a fourth, then a fifth, and so on until he got to twelve,” he sighs.

Only seven still live with him in Bugis. Two left, and three went to another city, two kilometers away, because what the family farm provides is not enough for everyone. /AFP/