"God Punish You"

While on the school run today, this lovely older lady (who joins me in a convo depending on how much time we've both got to kill) ambles up next to me. Looking at me eyeball to eyeball, she says: "God punish you!" In confusion, I do a double take. Obviously enjoying my discomfort, she again says: "God punish you!"
"Why now, mama?", I burst out laughing (try to hide my discomfort and pray fervently that she'd better come up with a smart story on this one or....!!!)
"Ahn ahn, why...all of you...two two children! Holding back God's blessings! "You've got two too, haven't you?"
"Yes...I say hesitatingly. Yes, mama?"
"Ah...why? Don't you know you are holding back the blessings for your race, your community? You use technology to limit God's blessings. All these children you kill every month, they will stare at you in heaven when you get there." Mama starts laughing. I join in. I explain that life is hard in today's world. Most people cannot afford to have more than two. There is no help, money buys less, lifestyles are hectic, too much to do, very high expectations, etc.

"But they manage it back home don't they?" Quipped mama.
"Ah...mama, but people starve too when they have more children than they can feed." Is that not part of the problem in Africa? There is so much poverty. We can't eat children, yet we keep having them.

Perhaps some of us in the diaspora are cautious. I know quite a few African families in the UK with five or six children, regardless. Statistics in the UK show that ethnic minority populations* would soar over that of the indigenous population in the next three decades. It would seem that despite crossing the great atlantic, our ability to breed has not deserted us. God may not punish us afterall.

*Ethnic minority populations include Africans and other ethnic groups in the UK.