adminPOLYGAMOUS marriages are often common in rural areas but rarely has this kind of marriage been accepted in urban set-ups where it is believed to be archaic.
In rural set-ups where there are still flashes of polygamous set-ups, the woman in such a marriage is expected to fend for herself and her children because the polygamous husband cannot afford to fend for them all.
Fending for the children and wives for a polygamous husband becomes even more difficult in an urban set-up where nearly every service is paid for. It becomes worse if the husband is unemployed and the wives are living separately.
However, for a 60-year-old Gweru man living with his three wives and 18 children under one roof this has not been a problem at all but instead a challenge that has taught him how to become self-employed.
For the past 19 years, Mr Edward Nyoni of Mkoba Village Five has been living with his three wives under one roof and does not remember any single day when his three wives quarrelled, save for the general childhood quarrels among his 18 children.
“I have been married to three wives for the past 19 years and I have a total of 18 children. We have been a happy family living under one roof for all these years,” said the ever smiling Mr Nyoni.
Having married his first wife, Senzeni, in 1975 another wife, Sarah arrived in 1980 while the third wife, Nothando joined the ever-growing Nyoni family in 1990 and life has been going on as usual for Mr Nyoni.
Mr Nyoni said he decided to resign from Belmont Shoe Company in Bulawayo in 1991 to start his own shoemaking company after he discovered that his earnings were no longer enough to take care of his fast expanding family.
“With my family expanding, the money I was getting at Belmont Shoe Company was no longer enough for me and my family. I sat down with my three wives and we made a decision that I should resign so that we can start our own small business.
“With the vast experience I had in the shoe making industry, I started to train my wives how to make shoes and from 1991 up to date we have been making shoes at our house and we have been eking a living out of this business since then up to now,” said Mr Nyoni.
Now a proud father of 18, Mr Nyoni said he had not experienced any major challenges in bringing up all his children some of whom, he said, were working outside the country.
He said he had been staying in harmony with his family in their seven-roomed house with each of his wives having her own bedroom.
“We, however, share the same kitchen, the same lounge and every property in the house is jointly owned by the family. We are living in harmony. My wives respect each other and I don’t remember any single day when they quarrelled. The children have also learnt from their mothers and they live in harmony. Some are now grown ups and they have since married and are leading their own families,” he said.
Mr Nyoni said only eight children were at home while the majority was looking after themselves.
“I only have eight children who are at school and the majority is now leading their families. I have eight boys and 10 girls and every one of them knows how to make shoes,” said Mr Nyoni, who said he was making between five and 10 pairs of shoes on a daily basis with his wives and children making up the shoemaking company’s staff complement.
“Some of my children are still going to school and to beef up the staff complement, I have employed three men who help me together with my wives when our children are at school,” he said.
Mr Nyoni, who specialises in genuine leather shoes, said he could make up to 30 pairs of shoes but was being hindered by lack of capital to buy enough raw materials and machines.
“I got only the moulding machines and most of the stages to complete the shoe are done manually. We don’t have enough funds and if funds permitted, we could have been making at least 30 pairs of shoes per day,” he said.
Mr Nyoni, who does the marketing for their products, said he had won tenders to supply various shops throughout the country including supplying safari operators.
“We only deal with genuine leather products and at times I get tenders to supply some safari operators but I sometimes fail to meet the demand because most of our labour here is done manually,” he said.
He appealed for loans from lending institutions so that he could set up a big shoemaking company that could meet international standards.
“At the moment I am operating at my house but if I can be assisted with at least $10 000 to buy machines, my operations will grow and we can set up a company that can meet international standards,” he said.
Online Reporter