"Infant money"

Hello everyone. I hope so far, it's been a splendid 2022 for we all. Moments ago when I was returning from a nearby grocery store to get some necessities, I saw a young man who I was very familiar as hell also lives in the neighborhood. He was actually on a phone call and bitterly complaining to a friend how rough the new year had been for him financially. This was quite amusing to me, cause I have known this guy for a long time and i can say that he has been broke for as far back as January 2010, so why put all the blame on January 2022? Lol.... Actually, he is an irresponsible gambler, so I had just a slight sympathy for him.

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Now back to my strange topic " infant money" . In the northern part of Nigeria where I live. When a child is born, as expected, family members, friends neighbors, acquaintances and well- wishers will troop to the house to see the new born and also congratulate the mom. And as the tradition demands, every visitor will definitely gift some money to the mother and the child before leaving. No amount of money is considered too big or too small. In the local language, this is popularly referred to as kudin barka. (Infant money).

Earlier in the morning, when mom was about to go out, she informed me that her customer's wife had just put to birth, and she was on her way to pay them a visit. Then she mentioned the name of the customer. I was quite surprised as I remembered that told me that particular this man's wife put to birth three months ago.

Mom saw my confusion and quickly clarified the situation by reminding me that this man had two wives and one of them had also given birth to a child three months after the other wife gave birth. Actually from what I heard that morning, the two wives have been engaged in a peculiar childbearing competition for a long time now. Every year for the past nine years, their husband welcomes at least a child from any of his two wives. The man was obviously rich in both wealth and children.

Whenever one of the two wives gives birth , she would boast of how much she made in "infant money" from the money given to her by her husband's business associates, friends amd other family members. The other woman on hearing this will take it as a challenge and get pregnant almost immediately so that she can make more money through infant money. Let's say the first woman that gave birth made 50,000 naira ($120), the second woman would plan to make atleast 70,ooo naira through the collection of "infant money" too.

Honestly speaking, I find this utterly ridiculous. Indiscriminate childbearing has now become another investment and a source of revenue to some people. Or maybe its because these women are full time housewives and out mental sloth, they decided to turn themselves to babymaking factories . I really don't think an educated or working class lady would depend on indiscriminate and thoughtless childbearing as a source of income.

I later came to realise that this bizarre practice was very common in my region of the country among idle and uneducated housewives in a polygagamous home .

I later heard of another woman whose co-wife had given birth to a set of twin and generated quite alot of "infant money". This woman was not quite happy as she wished she were the one that had gave birth to twins. So, she became pregnant in two quick succession in less than three years. She almost lost her life during the second birth due to complications as there was no adequate spacing between the two births. The doctor told her after the operation that she wouldn't be able to have more children as her womb had been damaged. On hearing this, the woman began to wail, and kept crying for a long time even though her baby survived and was healthy . This was a woman that already had five children fa. No need to mention that the reason for her sadness was that she wouldnt be able to get any more infant money in the future. Sh even accused the other woman of usng witchcraft to destroy her womb.

Giving birth to children indiscriminately because of short term pecuniary benefits is nothing but plain crazy! Such kind of shallowness and ignorance is totally on another level. And of course, most people actually dont see the problem here because "children are gifts from God".

While playing such a bizarre game of numbers with innocent young lives, what if something terrible happens tomorrow?

What would be the fate of the children if something happens and the financial situation of the family becomes seriously affected. What if the father suddenly dies from an accident, attack or illnesses. Who would take care of all his numerous kids in this treacherous world? It wouldn't surprise me if this same women place a tray of oranges or groundnuts on on top of the heads of their little children, then send them into the street to go hawk and look for money for them since their husband is no more. No wonder child abuse and child labor is so prevalent in developing countries, all thanks to irresponsible parents .

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Bilqees.