Mali High

No doubt you have heard and/or read about the horrific fire in the Bronx, New York where nine people, eight of them children, died after being trapped in a burning house. The death toll has recently risen to ten now that another child has passed away.

You probably learned that the deceased were members of two families who arrived in the United States after leaving their homeland of Mali in Western Africa.

What you may not have heard is that the man who owned the home, and was the father of eleven children, actually has two wives.

Not to negate the terrible tragedy of this incident, this piece of news caught me off guard. How many wives can a Malian man have? Is it permissible in the U.S. for immigrants to have more than one, or several, spouses?

Now that one of his wives has died, can he get a replacement? Does he have others as back-up? And on a more personal note: does he love his wives equally?