Three Sons

So when people ask how many siblings I have and I answer that I have two brothers, most give one of two responses: "Your father must be a poor man" or "Only three?" The first is based on the fact that when you marry here, the husband's family gives a lot of cows to the wife's. Usually the expenses for this are paid for by the husband's sister(s) from the cows she receives when she gets married. With no sisters we don't have that. (I could draw from any father's brother's daughters who are also sisters here, but they have enough brothers themselves.) Anyways, my father would have to dish out a lot about now if he were a Ugandan. That being said, he would also be honored to spread his name with many offspring, which are spread through the father's line i.e. through sons, but that's talked about less here. When people are shocked that I only have three, they are more shocked when I say one is a step brother (I don't start with that for the sake of conciseness), that is that my mom has only two kids! Most families here are about 6-8. That may be complicated because father's brother's children are considered siblings, so when I ask how many siblings people have we often speak with differing terms.