By Robert K James
It’s around 11:30 am when we arrive in Mukono town for our interview with Gloria, who we meet in a silver Toyota Regius in the company of a gentleman on their way to Kampala for business. We enter the car and drive with them back to Kampala and for us, that was money saved. We share a few pleasantries and kick off the interview.
In response to our first question, she says “I’m Gloria Namubiru and this is my husband Nelson Okello,” as she stares at him smilingly. Gloria, a businesswoman from Mukono and her better half Nelson relive their love story.
In the dusty suburb of Naguru, Gloria and Nelson lived in proximity and more importantly attended the same school, Naguru Katale, although not at the same time. In between time for school and social life, Gloria and their family shifted to Mukono. After some time, Nelson’s family also coincidentally relocated to Mukono although they didn’t know it at the time.
About nine years later, Nelson was driving home from work when he saw Gloria in another car. It hit his mind that her face looked familiar. “I saw her and her face looked a bit familiar,” Nelson reveals before adding that, “since then I used to see her around but never approached her. That was in 2011 by the way.”
As a businessman, he was always too busy trying to make a life for himself not until two years later when it hit him, that behind every successful man, lies a beautiful woman of noble character. Having realized that, it was now time to approach Gloria but he didn’t have her number and neither was he planning to just bump into her to get the deal done.
As any general on a mission, Nelson deployed one of his close friends as a private investigator whose task was to get him Gloria’s number. Although it took some little time, he delivered. He got her number from a gentleman who used to work at their home at the time. “Unfortunately, he’s no longer part of this world (May his soul rest in peace),” Nelson recounts.
Having gotten the number, Nelson contacted Gloria and set an appointment. The duo agreed to meet at a football field within Mukono. On that particular day, Nelson left work in Jinja as early as 3 pm and drove home to get ready for his appointment.
Normally, such appointments come with some level of anxiety but Nelson was further left bemused after calling Gloria twice only to be told that the number is off. It is on that note that he declined his mother’s first offer for “a cup of coffee to calm him down” before calling the number a third time. He was relieved to find it on this time.
As the clocks struck 5 pm, the two met but for Nelson; the nerves, anxiety and butterflies had already kicked in. He could barely express himself as he met with Gloria for the first time in eleven years. All his premeditated speech and planned talk had vanished in the thin air.
“I just told her that I’m Nelson and I have been seeing you for a long time. But if my mind serves me well, I have seen you somewhere else before. I want us to be close friends, very close friends,” a jolly Nelson narrates.
The two became close friends until when Nelson braved up enough to ask her out. However, during that time, Gloria was seeing someone as she concluded her studies at University although they were not at good terms.
“She told me I love you but am seeing someone, so I don’t know what to do,” Nelson recounts before Gloria interjects to say; “I was seeing someone but our relationship had hit the rocks. It wasn’t long until we finally broke up. I guess we weren’t meant to be.”
Four months after Gloria broke up with her then-boyfriend, she said yes to Nelson and the two entered into an intimate relationship in June 2013 and on November 23rd the same year, he proposed to her shortly after her birthday celebrations at Jinja showgrounds.
His proposal having been accepted, Nelson officially made his kukyala on May 14th, 2016 and was two months later officially introduced to Gloria’s entire family, relatives and friends at a splendid giveaway ceremony in Ntawo, Mukono on Sunday, July 17th.
Five months down the road, Nelson returned the favour as he walked Gloria down the aisle at Rubaga Cathedral. The couple had a photo shoot at Hamina’s apartments in Nakasero before joining the guests at UMA Exhibition hall, Lugogo.
After the wedding, the duo took their romance to Dubai where they spent three weeks for their honeymoon.
Decor by: Catahena Decor & Wedding Planners
