An Ashanti family has a meal in the mother’s house. The father lives
in another house.
The biggest family of all
How would you like to have many mothers, many fathers, and lots of
brothers and sisters? Impossible? Not if you’re an Ashanti child of
Ghana, in Africa.
Amfana is an Ashanti boy. He lives in a big house, with his mother and
his mother’s mother. His mother’s brothers live here, too. And so do his
mother’s sisters and all their children.
Amfana calls all the women in this house “mother.” So he has many
“mothers.” He calls all the children in this house “brother” or
“sister.” So Amfana has lots of “brothers” and “sisters.”
But what about Amfana’s father? Well, the father lives in another
house—with his mother. The father’s brothers live in this house,
too. So do the father’s sisters and all their children. Amfana calls all
the grown-ups in this house “father”—even his father’s sisters! He
calls the children in this house “brother” or “sister.” So he has more
“brothers” and “sisters.”
All Ashanti children live with their mothers—even after they are
grown-up and married. But the children see their fathers all the time.
Amfana spends part of each day with his father.
Sometimes, he and his mother stay with the father in his house. So
Amfana not only has many mothers, many fathers, and lots of brothers and
sisters—he also has two houses to live in!
