Tanzanian man has 20 wives and 100+ kids

Ammon

05-03-2025

Ammon News - A Tanzanian man, Mzee Ernesto Muinuchi Kapinga, has built a vast family, marrying 20 women and fathering 104 children. Currently, he lives with 16 wives, including seven sisters, in a small village in Njombe, Tanzania. His extended family includes 144 grandchildren. According to Pulse Africa, four of his wives have passed away.
Fulfilling His Father's Wish
Kapinga's journey began with a request from his father, who wanted him to expand their clan. Encouraged by this, he started building his family in 1961. "I was a young man then. I had just married my first wife in 1961, and my first child was born in 1962. But my father told me one wife was not enough. He paid the dowry for five of my wives—he wanted to see our family name endure. The rest, I added myself," he said in an interview with Afrimax.
Self-Sufficient Living
To sustain his large family, Kapinga follows a self-sufficient lifestyle. The entire family works together to cultivate crops and raise livestock, producing essentials such as corn, beans, cassava, and bananas. Surplus produce is traded or sold to acquire other necessities. Economic Times