A happy ending to a marriage divided by war occurred in Naenae earlier this year when a Ugandan couple officially tied the knot after 34 years.
Francis and Grace had a customary marriage in December 1972. Both their families are from Alur tribe in Nebbi District, North Western Uganda.
They had five children.
But in 1985 a coup in Uganda forced Francis into exile, first in Sudan and then in Ethiopia. He left his family, including a one-week-old son, in Kampala, the Ugandan capital.
Grace meanwhile took the children to live with Francis’ parents in Nebbi.
Communications with Francis stopped for some six years and Grace and the family thought he had died. Finally Francis was able to communicate again but the family was not reunited until last July when Grace, her youngest son, Jenkins, and granddaughter, Krishna, joined Francis in New Zealand.
The rest of the children are now married and living in Uganda. Francis and Grace have 10 grandchildren.
To give thanks and praise for their reunion, Grace and Francis decided to marry in St Bernadette’s Church, Naenae on 28 January.