One man’s tale of finding love in the UK How far has the world taken us to find love? For some it may not be beyond the tiny confines of our villages. Yet for others, it has cast their fortunes of affection beyond the plains, the seas and horizons. Others may have flown thousands of miles to find the men or women they love. This is the story of Martin Aliga, a former UCU guild president, as told to ZAKARIA TIBERINDWA I was in the Channel Islands where my fiancée lives. It is called Jersey Islands that form part of the Channel Islands. “Jersey is southwest of England and it is warmer than Scotland, where Edinburgh University is. While there, I had time to spend time closer to her and rest from the Scottish cold weather,” he narrated. My fiancée is Mary Bisson, the lastborn in a family of five, two brothers and three sisters. Bisson, works in their family business, The Poplars Tea Room- confectionery. Over 95% of their foodstuffs are locally prepared, an endeavour they have undertaken to promote healthy feeding. My wife-to-be is a simple, creative girl who brings into my life something new and humbling. Many things about her come from upbringing. Her parents brought up Mary and her siblings to be hard working and none of them is a God-forsaken idler. She is a flexible and hands-on girl. For example, she can drive a tractor. Falling in love I first saw Mary in 2005 during a friend’s wedding in a place called Goli. My friend, who now lives in the UK with his English wife, happened to be Mary’s friend because Mary spent sometime in Uganda between 1999 and 2000. In her inaugural visit to Uganda, she came with a group of young people from Jersey under Overseas Aid and Hospice and she volunteered at Goli Mission Primary School in 1999. At the time, I was teaching in Lira Municipal Council after obtaining my Grade III teaching certificate. I never had any serious contact with her then. I met her again at a wedding in 2005 and all I did was wave to her. It never occurred to me that I could actually meet her again. In 2009, I met a friend called Joseph who told me about Mary. I wondered whether she was on Facebook but she wasn’t. I had to wait till 2010 when she joined Face book for me to reconnect with the woman of my life. Fortunately, earlier in 2011, Mary had a plan of visiting Rwanda. So she came via Uganda to meet a few friends. She again went to Goli where she is popular because she taught many primary kids who are now big girls and boys. While there, I got the golden opportunity to meet her. We spent a few great moments together as friends and joked about many things. A few months later, I could not avoid telling her three magical words: ‘I love you’. Luckily, later in October 2011, I successfully applied to study for Master’s at the University of Edinburgh. The moment I got to the UK, I connected with Mary and it seems that was the spark that we badly needed for our love to sparkle and blossom. I paid Mary my first visit in the winter of 2011 and it was really a new experience altogether for me in many ways. Meeting the family of my sweetheart was such a wonderful experience. The engagement Early this year, I made up my mind not return to Uganda a single man now that I was dating Mary. My ambition was double-edged: achieving an MSc in Africa and International Development from the University of Edinburgh, and marrying a Briton. Before our engagement, I did a brief research about the Islanders’ engagement culture and I decided to take the old school, which demands that a man gets consent from her parents before engagement. I got courage. I approached my mother-in-law to be. My fiancée has only her mother alive. She gave me the green light. I proposed to her on the 10th April 2012. I had an idea of a jungle engagement, so I asked her whether we could take Sunny, her dog, in the jungle. While in the jungle, and as the dog was running about, I popped the question. The answer was a resounding “YES”. As I continue working on my dissertation, we have began our premarital counselling preparations and finding out other legal requirements for a Ugandan student in the UK to wed a Jersey Islander.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 07:20:51 +0000
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