Shafiq weds Hamida in a fantastic wedding ceremony Part 1

Mr. Shafiq Hassan Ssemwogerere an educationist,entrepreneur and prominent Kampala businessman and Ms Hamidah Nabukenya Ssemwogerere, proprietor Intermix Boutique and a Marketing Executive at Hotel Africana were married on 30^th/11/2014.

We had an exclusive interview with both of them and shared with us the following;

Frank Ntambi; How Did you guys meet?

Hassan: aaah, I remember my  friend Muhammad was invited at a certain wedding to attend to with his wife, he then told me to escort them which I welcomed, in the course of this wedding, there came Hamidah who was one of the bridesmaid, she looked so beautiful, adorable and stunning and I got so much attracted to her thus had to find her contact, I asked for it from Abdul but did not have it but told me where she works(Hotel Africana) by which I had to go there on the following Monday. Abdul had told me earlier that Hamidah is a Marketing Executive at Hotel Africana so my strategy was to disguise myself as one of her clients who was to book a wedding reception to one of my relatives then I got her contact and we started communicating.

Hamidah: Actually according to my experience in my field of work, I realized it that Hassan was not a client because no one would book a reception to such a venue just one month prior to the wedding. He started giving me relentless calls but diverting the conversation to other issues of asking me out, I was so disappointed and could just hang up on him and turned all his advances down but he could not give up till when I gave in and we went out on a lunch date at a one Mama Ashanti restaurant.

Frank Ntambi: What qualities do you most admire about each other?

Hassan: Oh, they are so many but the most important of all is that she is so loving and caring though she is so principled but that is okay and it fascinates me more because I got to learn what she always wants. But wait, I think the best quality would be her too much love for Allah, in each situation, she prays and believes in Allah and I think it`s one of the reason as to why our Love is as strong as a rock plus the fact that she is so very hardworking who values money a lot, unlike many of Kampala women I read or hear about, all those qualities make me really feel that I got the most treasured creature on earth.

Hamidah: Wow, that is a tricky question, but I could say that I admire his love and care he always display for me, every time he tries to keep our relationship new, he is a man who surprises me a lot as he gives me so many gifts on unexpected occasions, that always sweeps my feet. I also admire his hardworking abilities, he is so ambitious for us to be in a better situation everyday and he has worked hard for the two of us, I do not regret my decision why I got married to him.

Frank Ntambi: How was your courtship,was everything easy for you guys before you decided to tie the knot?

Hassan: Huh, not at all, it was not easy, I was in so much love with her that I wanted to make sure that I seal off all the potential suitors so I was all naïve and rushing everything according to her, so at one time on the 2013 Valentines day, there was a concert at her workplace of Bobi Wine and a Zambian Song bird Mampi, so I came to pick her for a cozy dinner,something she declined.I came with the valentine gifts I had got for her, she just told me that I`m all rushing things that we should take it very slow and then she even turned down my gifts, it hurt me so much and I got mad, I had to give it a break and see if she could probably call me maybe to apologize but she couldn`t, after sometime when I could not get her off my mind, I had to swallow my pride to re-connect with her since I realized she is a girl who knows her worth and does not get much excitement, you could not easily just melt her heart, so in my “second coming” I had to play by her rules and it helped me to win her heart.

Hamidah: Yes that1s true, I always do not want to rush things especially such a sensitive issue of love, I do not want to make mistakes, I always want to first study the situation, analyze it and give it a reaction, I feared commitments thus did not want to hurt myself, I had to first study and understand who Hassan is, what qualities does he have, his background, among others, and that had to take some time.

Frank Ntambi: How was the proposal?

Hassan: I realized she is a person who liked movies a lot, so I had to take her out at Cineplex, I had planned to propose to her that night, so I booked with the management to let us be in charge of the Movie, thus they could pause for our proposal.It was so costly but I did not mind about it, so there came the night, I had planned with the popcorn guy to do something special for me, so he came and gave us the popcorns, while she was eating hers, she surprisingly found an  engagement ring in a very wrapped up box inside and asked me what this was all about as she never saw it coming, the management paused the movie, switched on the lights and  I just knelt down and asked for her hand in marriage.

Hamidah: I swear to God, I never saw that coming, it was the most emotional situation I have ever been in, I`m the person who always fail to get much excitement but he made me feel like I`m the only girl in the world, for sure I never saw this coming; I just had to say yes. I did not hesitate for a second after I saw him on his knees.

Frank Ntambi: any set back in your courtship before the wedding?

Hassan:  Yeah, but I do not know If we could call it that, okay after our engagement night, we deeply fall into much love with each other, we always wanted to be together so as we do not miss each other even for a single second, so there was a time I had to go with her to meet her Uncle, Hamidah is the type of person who keeps time and dislikes those who do not keep it, so I got caught up and they were waiting for me, I could not drive my car but to use a boda boda so as I could beat traffic and unfortunately I got involved in a very nasty accident which got me unconscious, the good Samaritans took me to the hospital and called her since it was the last number I had dialed, she came to the hospital all crying as she could not stand to see the pain I was going through. She was there for me and took good care of him, before this unfortunate thing happened, we had agreed that I should go and visit her Auntie, and it was just 2 months remaining, I had so many scars, I felt bad about myself and even asked her If she could still be with me after all the scars I had gotten, she told me to calm down that she is going nowhere and that she would make sure I was fine and back on my feet, this made me to love her even more.

Hamidah: I do not want to even remember that fateful situation, when I got a call from one of the people who helped him go to the hospital, I thought it was kind of a prank but the man seemed so serious, my heart started to beat so fast and I almost had a panic attack ,ironically I had to quickly get a bodaboda to go the hospital to see what really happened, I found him unconscious and could not hold back my tears, I knelt down and prayed to Allah to have mercy on us, my prayers were answered and Hassan came back to life. He was afraid I could live him, he just didn`t know how much I loved him or how far I could go in such situations. When he was very stable, we then had to work on our kukyala.

Mr Shafiq Hassan Ssemwogere expressed his thanks to Kyazze Victor, Monica Nakitto,S Solomon, Abbey Musoke, Ismail Kasibante, Musoke Isa, Hajj Yasin, Edris, Safina, Maureen, Baker Mayombwe, Ashanti, Shidie, Mum and Dad, my wife’s family, our entrounge, my colleagues at work all service providers and hotel Africana.