My grandpa was polygamist

One interesting thing about Sénégal is the tradition of polygamy. Yes, polygamy actually does exist!

When I asked my host mom about it, she told me:
"Well, I come from a polygamist family, and it worked just fine for us!"

It turns out grandpa had 4 wives. The woman I know as grandma (or yaay in Wolof) is wife #2.

With a lot of openness and sharing, they made it work out. It was one big happy family, and she considered her half brothers and sisters as true siblings who all shared 4 mothers.

My mom conceded that for many families it seems to cause a lot of problems. But that could be because they get into it for the wrong reason.
Wrong reasons might include:
1. Finding another "better" woman and not wanting to divorce the first
2. Taking another wife as a show of wealth
3. Umm, etc.

"One man I knew," she told me, "decided to take a second wife because he told me that he just need to make love all the time. He still loved and had a great relationship with his first wife," she continued, "he just needed another woman to be completely satisfied."

Apparently it worked out for him, too.