Family

I am an Afghan and traditionaly it is considered important to have large families. In Afghanistan our family was huge. If we look at my grandfather from mother's side, he had 3 wives. Aunts and uncles from mother's side sums up to 8 uncles and 9 aunts and that is only from 2 wives because one afew years after marriage. Family form father's side totals to 4 uncles one of whom got killed during soviet invasion and 6 aunts. Our family from father's side, who we lived with, included our grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. In reallity I don't even know some of their names. To an American I would describe it as haveing a Thanksgiving or Christimas night. We all sat togather for dinner in one table. While eating there would be alot going on. The elders (my grandparents, and uncles) would be talking about politics and government, while us (my cousins, and brothers and I) would be taking about sports. soccer and cricket in particular. When my uncles were old enough to work my granddad retired and he helped my cousins, brothers and I with any problem we had. In Afghanistan elders are considered wise becasue they have been through life's many challanges and have made lots of mistakes and have learned from those mistakes and that's how one becomes knowledgeable. Therefor whenever making a big dicision it is considered important to talk to them and have their advise.