#11 Would you have an affair to get pregnant?

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FACT OF THE DAY: Without infertility treatment, in some cultures sleeping with someone else may be the only way to get pregnant. 

At first glance, sleeping with another man to get pregnant seems pretty extreme behaviour, doesn’t it?   However, imagine yourself in a scenario where the following is true;

1. Your marriage is an arranged marriage, rather than a love marriage

2. If you don’t get pregnant, it is very likely your husband will either divorce you or take a second wife

3. Having children and being a mother is literally the only acceptable way of life; not having children will mean you are a social outcast

4. Although women are generally blamed for infertility, you know your husband is the reason you aren't getting pregnant

5. There is no available infertility treatment for men

Under these circumstances what ‘resourceful’ woman wouldn’t consider the possibility of finding an alternative man to father her child!?

#6 NOT announcing the good news of pregnancy

FACT OF THE DAY: Some Gusii women go through their whole pregnancy without taking about it to anyone 

In today’s post I am going back to the Gusii, who live in Kenya, that I talked about in my first post #1. The Gusii are the culture who, as I put it, are pregnant or breastfeeding for 30 years, and who prize large families.

Given how important it is to get pregnant regularly and have lots of children, you would think that each time a Gusii woman found she was pregnant she would be excited and happy, and proudly announcing her news. I was very surprised to read that this is not the case.

Gusii women rarely even tell their husband or children about their pregnancy, and never announce their pregnancy to anyone outside of their home. Apparently ‘to volunteer news would be regarded as crazy behaviour’.

#1 Pregnant or breastfeeding for 30 years

FACT OF THE DAY: Some women hardly have a period their whole life because they are constantly pregnant or breastfeeding

I have been reading a book about a group of people called the Gusii who live in the Western highlands of Kenya where the rain falls abundantly and the soil is rich.  The book is written by a husband and wife team who spent many years living in Kenya getting to know the Gusii people. They were particularly interested in how the Gusii looked after their babies and brought up their children.