{"id":18619,"date":"2021-06-14T21:02:52","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T18:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/?p=18619"},"modified":"2021-08-02T15:17:26","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T12:17:26","slug":"the-teacher-affair-we-got-married-40-years-late","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/?p=18619","title":{"rendered":"The teacher affair: We got married 40 years late"},"content":{"rendered":"
Two teachers met and love blossomed. Robert Emitu Odutu, former principal of Masuulita Vocational Institute in Wakiso, met Florence Kiyai, a deputy headmistress of Bukakaire Primary School, Bugiri in 1979. The two wedded recently.<\/div>\n
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Florence lived with her aunt while training as a teacher in Kumi and Robert\u2019s sister who was her aunt\u2019s friend and colleague came to visit.<\/div>\n
On their first encounter, Robert says he fell head over heels for Florence and got a conviction that Florence was his wife-to-be. Above all, she was a teacher.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cAt the time, being a teacher was prestigious and my father pushed me to be one. When I told him that I had met a girl who was a teacher, he had no objections. He started preparing and asked me to bring her home,\u201d Robert recounts.<\/div>\n
In 1981, Robert\u2019s family visited Florence\u2019s and bride price\u00a0 was agreed upon. An official introduction followed and the give-away.\u00a0 Robert says the relatives and friends contributed to the bride price\u00a0 and much of the preparations for the ceremonies. Then,\u00a0 Florence went to Robert\u2019s home.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cI had completed my Grade V teacher\u2019s training at Institute of Teacher Education, Kyambogo(ITEK) and Florence had completed her Grade II course. We relocated to work in Jinja,\u201d he says.<\/div>\n
That same year, the couple had their first child. Then, three more before Florence went to upgrade in 1986.<\/div>\n
The couple says they used to admire and contribute to church weddings of\u00a0 young couples but were not ready for the same.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWe would think of the church wedding but the schedule and finances were so tight. We had children in school and almost all the meagre salaries we earned went into their education,\u201d he says.<\/div>\n
This made it difficult to prepare a wedding ceremony and hardly gave them time. All they did was admire and move on.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Later, one of their children wedded. This inspired their family.\u00a0 While the parents wanted to be exemplary by going for a church wedding, the children too wished their parents the same experience.<\/div>\n
\u201cWhenever we went home, people would keep asking about when our parents would get married. This often happened at church too, especially when a young couple wedded,\u201d Christine Tibanaga, the couple\u2019s third born recalls.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Wedding\u00a0 journey<\/strong><\/div>\n
When Robert retired in 2018, he promised to do the ceremony as soon as possible but Florence was still teaching and it became an excuse.<\/div>\n
In 2019 Christmas holiday, the children insisted about their parents\u2019 wedding. The parents claimed they had inadequate funds and the children promised to get it.<\/div>\n
\u201cThey set the date for\u00a0 December 12, 2020. Even when Covid-19 came, they said they would\u00a0 not change their mind,\u201d Florence said.<\/div>\n
Their children started holding preparatory meetings in Kampala, while the parents did theirs in the village, in addition to premarital counselling.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
According to the couple, there was less to learn since they had spent long together. However, the priest told them to never separate rooms no matter the incident because many people separate bedrooms, especially when they age. This, causes stress leading to early death.<\/div>\n
Because they have spent more time together, they were given the privilege of counselling younger couples.<\/div>\n
Robert says focusing less on money and sharing keeps a family together. \u201cThis principle has kept our family together for this long,\u201d he says.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Sometimes Robert and wife would get overwhelmed by all the processes involved in the wedding. The children played the biggest role supported by their parents, friends and relatives.<\/div>\n
\u201cThe boys were concerned with our father, especially his clothes and the girls were concerned with our mother\u2019s\u00a0 outfit and make-up,\u201d Christine says.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
D-day and moments<\/strong><\/div>\n
The make-up artist travelled from Kampala to Bukedea District on the eve of the wedding and everyone was set by 9am on the wedding day.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
At 11.30am, they were at Bukedea Church of Uganda. Robert says the turnout\u00a0 was immense and this showed how much people loved the couple. He was nervous and eager to see his bride.<\/div>\n
\u201cWhen we entered church, I wanted to see Florence but my best man kept nudging me and said I was not supposed to look back,\u201d Robert recollects.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Florence was excited that finally, the day had come.<\/div>\n
\u201cMy daughter was always stressed because we were not married in church. Now we had put her stress to rest,\u201d Florence says.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
She was elated to see her colleagues who were in the same outfit. The people that turned up, especially the district education officer (DEO) made her feel so important.<\/div>\n
Robert, on the other hand, had his best moment in church when he removed her veil and shouted, \u201cIt is her!\u201d<\/div>\n
The photo moment was a bonus for him.<\/div>\n
After the celebrations, the couple did not go for honeymoon because they had many guests who had come for the Christmas holiday.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
They revealed that their house in Bukedea gave them much peace too.<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat mattered to us is that we enjoyed the time with our loved ones,\u201d Florence says.<\/div>\n
The couple advises young couple to keep in contact and friendship with relatives and friends because they are the people who will be there for them in their highs and lows. \u201cAlso, let people contribute to your functions because when they attend, they feel valued and less estranged.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Titbits<\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Date: December 12, 2020<\/div>\n
Church: St. Mathew Church of Uganda, Bukedea<\/div>\n
Reception: At home in Bukedea<\/div>\n
Gown: Maria Bridal at Shs1m<\/div>\n
Suit: Nabugabo Building, Shs900, 000<\/div>\n
Cake: Cake Boss, Mbale. Shs1.8m<\/div>\n
D\u00e9cor:\u00a0 Devine Grace party services, Mbale<\/div>\n
Guests: 500<\/div>\n
Budget: Shs28m<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two teachers met and love blossomed. Robert Emitu Odutu, former principal of Masuulita Vocational Institute in Wakiso, met Florence Kiyai, a deputy headmistress of Bukakaire Primary School, Bugiri in 1979. The two wedded recently. Florence lived with her aunt while training as a teacher in Kumi and Robert\u2019s sister who was her aunt\u2019s friend and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18621,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":""},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[524],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[1784],"class_list":["post-18619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-stories"],"authors":[{"term_id":1784,"user_id":1,"is_guest":0,"slug":"weddingadmin","display_name":"weddingadmin","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd3996c46efafdc40969010bfd78c8e4dda9d99318e7dd6403983ea0dadbcfce?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18619"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18876,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18619\/revisions\/18876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18619"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fppma_author&post=18619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}