I came across mention of Mohammed Bello Abubakar before. This is a Muslim Nigerian fellow with 86 wives. Naturally the question arises as to why anyone would want to have that many wives, but who am I to judge.
Word has come down the he must choose only four. Yes, that's right, he has to really back it up and have just four ladies. If he doesn't comply with this, he's going to be put to death.
I see two outcomes for this. Seeing as how he's 84, he could very just go with the death option. That would probably be my choice. The other choice would be to sell this to an broadcasting company to make some kind of American Idol show where we go through an elimination system. I see the title now, Wife Hunt: Nigeria. You know it would spawn massive ratings as well as subsequent seasons. I can even see the reunion show now:
"Wife 37, how did it make you feel to be eliminated in just the first round?"
"Well, Carson, I was sad at first, but because I didn't have any children, I eventually found my way in to a home where there were only eight wives. It was really a step up for me."
"So, everyone was a winner?"
"Yes, yes, Carson, I'd have to say that everyone was a winner."
"Dear god I love doing my part to save Africa."
One of the things that no one really learns except for the hard way is how serious the Congolese take lowering their flag at the end of the day.
We found ourselves standing around the commercial district at 6PM and I started noticing everything stopping. The hustle and bustle ground to a halt. The traffic slowed. Cars were turned off. Everyone was facing west and standing rigid, not talking. It was like the scenes in Dark City where the entire city would freeze in a state suspended animation. Surreal doesn't really even begin to explain it.
The only problem in this is that as an outsider, you have no clue what is going on. Maybe you try to ask someone, but you'll only get a nasty reply telling you to shut up. If you keep going about your business, people will really take offense at your doing this. You just have to know that this is the custom and that you need to respect it or be in an area with expats where everyone ignores it.
This is apparently another holdover from Mobutu times that people stick to. It's rather surprising that there have been seven different flags for DR Congo in it's relatively brief history with the latest one that everyone respects so dearly being brought in to effect just two years ago. I guess in the end, it has more to do with the act of respect rather than the object that the respect is being directed at.
In case you're wondering, the flag is raised at 7AM each day with people singing the national anthem.
