Finally, wedding bells after two postponements
Robinson Akungu, 30, a marketing researcher and Linda Ating’a, 29, a food technologist, met in unexpected circumstances. They became close friends for five years before they began courting. Theirs has been a long and patient journey as they shared with ESTHER KIRAGU.
Call it coincidence, destiny or fate, but in one moment, people can meet and their lives change forever like it did for Robinson and Linda. The pleasant couple met in August 2006. Robinson at the time was a student at Kampala University but was in Kenya for holidays.
Robinson was scheduled to attend a Christian youth conference in Kampala during the holidays and it was on the bus to Kampala where he met Linda. Linda was at the time a student at the Kenya Polytechnic, now Technical University of Kenya, and was traveling to attend the same event as Robinson.
A friendship grows…
“We didn’t really have much of a conversation in the bus. We just greeted each other,” says a soft-spoken Linda who admits that although they remained in the same youth fellowship for a while, they didn’t have much interaction. But over time a friendship blossomed between them. They frequently saw each other since they fellowshipped together at the All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi, but just as friends.
“We became good friends, got to know each other and related well, but we weren’t really dating. I think ours was quite an extraordinary friendship, not the usual romantic story of boy meets girl and falls in love with her instantly that you hear of everyday,” Robinson says amidst a chuckle. The couple, however, admits that with time they really became fond of each other.
Things begin to get serious…
In 2010 Linda invited Robinson to her graduation ceremony and an excited Robinson read this to mean Linda considered him more than just a friend. Linda got a job in Homabay after graduation while Robinson remained in Nairobi. They kept in constant touch through phone calls, text messaging and often visited each other. By this time their friendship had moved to the next level and they shared great affection for each other. In June 2011, Robinson visited Linda in Homabay and invited her to dinner where he proposed.
“Robinson is faithful, very understanding and a man of his word, and so I accepted his proposal because I felt we shared similar values and were suited to each other,” says Linda. Robinson on the other hand says that he prayed about their relationship prior to the proposal and knew God would favour him with his desire to marry a great woman. He admires Linda’s great qualities and describes her as God fearing, hard working and a go-getter.
Postponing their wedding twice…
After getting over the excitement of being engaged, the couple settled down to making their wedding plans. They informed their families and dowry negotiations and other arrangements were set in motion. “We feel blessed that the dowry negotions went on smoothly. Our families were able to agree in just one meeting,” an ecstatic Robinson explains.
The couple put together a wedding committee made up of close friends and relatives to help plan the wedding. They then set a wedding date but at some point had to delay their plans to pave way for one of Linda’s sister whose wedding plans had started a few months before theirs.
And just when the couple thought all was set, they encountered a second hitch when Linda got a work-related opportunity to travel to Egypt for a three-months’ training programme. “Although this interfered with our wedding plans, we felt it was a great opportunity for my career and couldn’t turn it down,” Linda explains.
Finally a beautiful wedding…
The couple’s patience paid off when they held a beautiful wedding on February 2, 2013 at All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi and a reception at the grounds of Loreto Convent, Valley Road. Their Orange and black themed wedding cost Ksh 550,000 and was financed through personal savings and contributions from friends and family.
“Exchanging the wedding vows was very memorable to me,” says Robinson, and Linda says being handed officially by her parents to her husband, as friends and family witnessed, was outstanding. The couple travelled to Uganda, which is like their second home, for their honeymoon.
We wish them a happy marriage!
Photography by Koa Media
Published in October 2013 issue