The Gan Kings

In Burkina Faso you can find a strange parallel universe. A good example are the Gan people, still governed by their own royal dynasty. The King of Gan was in place when I visited the town in 2008, he was 32 and had been in office since 2004. The tradition requires him to inherit and take over all the wives and children of earlier kings and queens. After their death, statues were erected in a small town parallel to that of the living room. The statues are made of clay. This king had, as of August 2008, 14 wives and 71 children! I do not know if the count will increase! This man, who had studied in the nation's capital and already had his own life, had to go back overnight and take care of this very large family (women twice his age, who had their own children etc ...), in addition to his other subjects.