By Joan Salmon
26 years ago, in 1996, Rev Jasper Tumuhimbise, through his cousin, met Peace Asiimwe. From the very beginning, he fell in love with this calm woman with long, silky hair. However, on this particular day, a meeting had been called to help Peace, who had just graduated with a Diploma in Education, find a job.
“After exchanging pleasantries, Immy Byaruhanga (who later became my best man) and I asked if she had a boyfriend and she said yes. She, however, added that it was not serious since the man she was dating was an alcoholic,” Rev Jasper says.
The meeting took place at St Francis Chapel at Makerere University and after the service, the three travelled to Mengo, Kampala, to meet the director of a certain school.
“On seeing Peace, the director instead started admiring her beauty. We quickly ‘woke up’ to the reality of him becoming a suitor since he was also a bachelor. While he had given us an appointment for the next day (Monday), we decided to look somewhere else. Peace finally got a job as a clerk with Friends Bus Service,” Rev Jasper says.
Proposal
Peace says she was attracted to Jasper because he is a handsome man with dimples and a gap in his teeth. He was also truthful from the beginning, a born again Christian and quite funny. Rev Jasper (a traffic officer with Uganda Railways in Tororo then) did not waste time in making his intentions known. In December 1996, he proposed.
“It was only a few months after meeting Peace but I knew she was the one. I had to make do with a ring bought on the street and a meal at Makerere Guest House. In the past, engagements were not costly; a meal of chips and chicken then was Shs8,000 while the ring, which I bought near Uganda Book Shop, cost Shs3,000. We made a promise to get married in 1997,” he says. Click to read more…
