Senegalese men are making this country poorer.

I have been reading lately about how the economists are predicting the world will fall into crisis around 2030. They then show pictures of an African mother feeding half a dozen children. In other words implying that Africa is basically going to starve to death in about 20 years because of lack of food and water. And I have to say from here, I wouldn't be too surprised if they turned out to be right.

The whole thing frustrates me a lot because being in Africa I see that the problems are partially created by the Africans themselves, mainly the men. The Koran says a man can take up to 4 wives but he must treat them equally. In some parts of the Muslim world they understand this to mean that they must be able to treat them equally financially as well as love them equally and that is not possible so most men have one wife. In Senegal they interpret that as only treat them equally financially. I have been told by Senegalese men that they take multiple wives because they want more women to sleep with and take care of the house! So you either starve, struggle along or thrive together but as long as its equal, its ok. Unfortunately this is not and never has been a good idea because wives mean children and 4 wives can mean 16-20 children for one man to support which is incredibly difficult in an economy that only has half of its working population in the formal sector and the other half is in the informal sector. You cannot support 20 children by hawking peanuts on the side of the road! 45% of this country's population is under the age of 15 and a large percentage of them are going to have very sad futures. Its so enraging to see this vicious train of arrogance leading to the suffering of children. If only the men here could see that what was written over 1400 years ago is not a good idea in the 21st Century. They are endangering the future of their offspring by having so many of them!
One of the PCVs here worked with a mosquito-net distribution project last year. In her village of 800 people, 300 where between the ages of 6 months and 5 years. Those are the ages you could get a free mosquito net for because they are the most vulnerable for malaria. The pregnant and nursing mothers also got them. But 3/8 of her village was between 6 months and 5 years!!! How on earth are these children to survive? They already are malnourished and barely educated. Yet the average man in her village has two wives and takes another when he gets any type of windfall! Its is so incredibly stressful. I feel like there is very little I can do about it from this end. I am a young single white female. The men here are more interested in making me wife number 3 than listening to me.
What they need here is one of the Muslim development agencies to come in here and do some serious family planning work. I feel like its the only way to make them listen. It would also make the International Muslim Community look a lot better!
Yes, there are many other reasons that Africa is not developing, lack of work ethic amongst men is one reason due to too much aid from developed countries. (But then the Wolofs were noted as "lazy" and only want to "dance and sing" as far back as the 16th century.) Also the fact that the schools are almost always on strike because the government thinks its more important to build statues of Mother Africa (or whatever that large odd looking this is in Dakar) then pay their teachers. The students are then not prepared for their exams to go to high school or university and so fail out of school.
This place is a mess. And quite frankly I feel is a mess of their own doing.
Even in tourism they do it too themselves. The government levys a hefty tax on all passengers going through the Dakar airport which inflates ticket prices and makes Senegal a less appealing destination.
You feel like you are trying to swim into a tidal wave. Petit a petit. Only in the individuals can we make any sort of change.