06-26-2007, 05:55 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Hum do, hamare 23, says Haryana pair
From Rajesh Deol, DH News Service, Nuh (Haryana):Â
Celebrations just won't abate at the house of Mohammed Ishaq and Bismillah. They found one more occasion for it last week when they were blessed with their 23rd child!
The little one, born last week and named Shabira, is the darling of her parents and her 22 siblings in a nondescript village, Akera, in the backward Mewat region of Haryana.The 42-year-old mother, Bismillah seemed fine and happy though she has already given birth to 14 daughters and nine sons in her 27 years of married life with 50-year-old Ishaq.
"It is all God's grace," says Ishaq, who works as a labourer.
He said if they have another child next year that too would be welcomed. "God will take care of the children," he says philosophically, while acknowledging that it was often a struggle to feed his huge army of children. Ishaq earns anywhere between of Rs 100 to Rs 150 per day.
The couple does not remember the names of all of their children. "It is difficult to recall the names of all of them. They resemble each other so much," says a beaming Ishaq.
Interestingly, their three eldest children are married and have children of the same age of their siblings.
When asked if she still craved for more children, an embarrassed Bismillah said, "What can I say, everything is in God's hands."
In a region where education and healthcare facilities are lacking, large families are more a norm than exception.
A gram panchayat member, Dharamvir, said one could find families having 12 to 16 children in many villages of the Mewat region â astonishingly in the backwaters of the national capital, Delhi, which is less than100 km away.
The literacy rate among women in the Meo community (Muslims) which is the dominant community in Mewat stands at an appalling 1.76 percent as per 2001 census â the lowest in the country â while the male literacy rate is way below the national average and is pegged between 27-33 per cent.
A doctor at the neighbouring health centre said people were hesitant to adopt family planning measures either due to ignorance or owing to religious feelings. Sehgal Foundation, an NGO working on improving rural lifestyle, says the average family size in Mewat region is 6.8.
http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jun262...eyword=dch_home
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From Rajesh Deol, DH News Service, Nuh (Haryana):Â
Celebrations just won't abate at the house of Mohammed Ishaq and Bismillah. They found one more occasion for it last week when they were blessed with their 23rd child!
The little one, born last week and named Shabira, is the darling of her parents and her 22 siblings in a nondescript village, Akera, in the backward Mewat region of Haryana.The 42-year-old mother, Bismillah seemed fine and happy though she has already given birth to 14 daughters and nine sons in her 27 years of married life with 50-year-old Ishaq.
"It is all God's grace," says Ishaq, who works as a labourer.
He said if they have another child next year that too would be welcomed. "God will take care of the children," he says philosophically, while acknowledging that it was often a struggle to feed his huge army of children. Ishaq earns anywhere between of Rs 100 to Rs 150 per day.
The couple does not remember the names of all of their children. "It is difficult to recall the names of all of them. They resemble each other so much," says a beaming Ishaq.
Interestingly, their three eldest children are married and have children of the same age of their siblings.
When asked if she still craved for more children, an embarrassed Bismillah said, "What can I say, everything is in God's hands."
In a region where education and healthcare facilities are lacking, large families are more a norm than exception.
A gram panchayat member, Dharamvir, said one could find families having 12 to 16 children in many villages of the Mewat region â astonishingly in the backwaters of the national capital, Delhi, which is less than100 km away.
The literacy rate among women in the Meo community (Muslims) which is the dominant community in Mewat stands at an appalling 1.76 percent as per 2001 census â the lowest in the country â while the male literacy rate is way below the national average and is pegged between 27-33 per cent.
A doctor at the neighbouring health centre said people were hesitant to adopt family planning measures either due to ignorance or owing to religious feelings. Sehgal Foundation, an NGO working on improving rural lifestyle, says the average family size in Mewat region is 6.8.
http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jun262...eyword=dch_home
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