Trying for a son ... After six daughters

Mel Cooke, Sunday Gleaner Writer

It is safe to say that Rupert 'Saddam' Dawkins has a lot of women in his life. He has six daughters, Shemeka (born 1987), Hanneisha (born 1991), Tachell (1994), Diedra (1998), Kaleee (1999) and Xaviera (2007) with four women. He could have more as, all going well, another baby will be born in January 2012, with a fifth woman, Kellisha.

At 43 years old, Dawkins is hoping that this child will finally be a boy. The ebullient character grins as he dreams of a balance. "Me wouldn't mind if she get a twin - a girl for she and a boy for me.

"If is a girl, me plan fe travel, give it a one-year, two-year break. Sometimes you can find your wife when you travel, like in the Bible."

He was not grinning, though, when there were twins previously, with Xaviera's mother. "Is a twin she did fe have, but the boy dead," Dawkins said. He said the boy, who weighed about four pounds, died a day after being born. His sister weighed about eight and a half pounds. "Me cry, me cry. Me couldn't eat for a month," the lean Dawkins said. Still, he said, "You have to overcome that."

surrounded by women

Dawkins has been surrounded by women all his life. He has eight sisters and says he is his father's only son and the first for his mother. He points out, though, that not having sons does not mean he loves his daughters less - or that the emotion is not returned.

"Me always maintain them, though them mother work. An' some of the mother them, you set them up in business. People wonder how me do it, cause me smart," he said.

However, working as a security guard, Dawkins concedes that fathering children with different women has taken a financial toll on him. "If me did have the whole a them with one woman it woulda save me a whole heap of money," he said.

"The mother them always jealous, say me too womanising. Me no have no land, no house, no car, nutten. Yu jus' haffi give woman joke, carry them out go lunch. Sometimes them man at home no carry them go lunch. You jus' make them life more exciting," Dawkins said.

He says that when he sees other fathers with their sons, "me always admire how them relate. Me always a say a shoulda me. Even my brother have two sons."

Dawkins says he thinks about what he would buy for his son and the "good school" he would attend.

And Dawkins already has a name picked for if - or when - he finally has a son. His eyes glow as he carefully shapes and speaks the name: Iyaska Emmanuel Dawkins.

"Dawkins is a powerful name. It have to go on," he said.