Sunday, January 27, 2013

THE FAITH OF ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN AND DNA TEST




THE FAITH OF ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN AND DNA TEST
Illegitimate children are children had out of wedlock or formal union of a man and a woman in marriage. They are victims of circumstances that were not of their own making. They grow up to find themselves in such a predicament of not knowing who is real and true biological father. In most cases they are told when they are already matured in life or by persuading their mother and in some cases it might lead to threats or even violence before they get the true story of their roots.
In this situation of child development their mothers are hard hit, because the upbringing of these children is basically the responsibility of their mothers. The long time difficulties they encounter vary in terms of the gender of the child. From my Igbo tribe point of view, the male child finds it very difficult to be integrated into the immediate family of his father. In most cases the father of that very illegitimate male child must have married and had children with his wife. The faith of this male child will be hanging on the step mother who will find it difficult to absorb him into her family due to the fact of inheritance of the property of her husband.
In the case of the death of the husband, there is the fear that the illegitimate child if accepted in the family will be entitled to share the property with the legitimate children of the man. That is when the war will come within the family of who gets what from the inheritance. One thing is clear; the illegitimate child did not beg to be born into the world.
In the case of a girl child she will not be a big problem to the family all they need to do for her is to give her basic education and she will grow up and get married and start her own family.
There has been a recent development of many shocking disclosures of illegitimate children within matrimonial homes with husbands suddenly discovering that they are not the biological fathers of their children after many years of parenting. I think men should be doing DNA tests to confirm the paternity of their children and more importantly, on their first child, because the society has changed with rampant promiscuity and infidelity mostly dangerous for women. There is what they call farewell love time with their ex- boyfriends before getting married the next few days, weeks or even months and the intended husband to be is definitely not aware of the whole escapades before going on honeymoon without knowing that the wife to be is already pregnant with another man’s child. There was a story of a man who was staying out of the country for some years and he normally visited home from time to time until when he wanted to take them along out of the country and one of the conditions for taking his family is that they will undergo DNA tests for the entire family. After the process, he discovered that two of his four children were not his biological children. The man asked the wife “who is the father of the children that call me DADDY?” There is an Igbo adage that asks who owns the baby you are carrying?
Will I advise that men should take their first child and others for DNA tests or what? Should girls go for pregnancy tests before their weddings or what? But it all boils down to trust and having respect for yourself and your family heritage.
Illegitimate children in most cases live miserable lives, because of their unfortunate circumstances which are not of their own making. Illegitimate children must be treated with diginity as your real children no matter what happens, they have the right to live and be respected in your family and the society.

No comments:

Post a Comment