Secrets to a happy marriage
What you need to know:
Marriage in Uganda, just like in the rest of world, has taken on a less attractive role, although some people seem to be making it work. What is their secret? Sandra Janet Birungi finds out.
Many people opt to cohabit or simply take longer to get married as opposed to getting married a little younger.
According to the 2011 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS), up to 38 per cent of men aged between 15 and 49 are more likely to have never been married compared to 24 per cent of women in the same age group.
The percentage of married women also declined from 49 per cent to 36 per cent in the same period.
The number of unhappy marriages are said to play a big role in the declining marriages in the country. So, what is the secret to a happy marriage? Different people have different working formular.
“You have to trust each other and share your problems. To keep your marriage happy, you also have to remind your partner how much you love them as much as possible and of course rely on God to take you through. Nowadays most of them are failing because love rarely exists in this age,”
Namuli Persis Kizito, 32, hotel barista.
“There are no happy marriages. We just pretend to be happy when we are not. If you can quarrel with your mother, how will you be happy with a man you do not know? All you have to do is stay in that marriage. So, it takes patience,”
Mugisha Karen, 55, grocery shop owner
“There are four things that can make a happy marriage. You have to trust each other, love each other, have children and also have money. These are very important to make you happy but the most important is trust. Nowadays men and women are not trust worthy,”
Yusuf Wasswa, 59, businessman.
“I believe a couple has to be willing to compromise and understand one another. Honesty always works as well because an honest marriage is a happy marriage,”
Hussein Kato, business consultant
It takes love. Without love, there can never be happiness and love is founded on better communication. When you love each other, you can be able to talk to each other but then, I am not married so I do not know,”
Godfrey Akampulira, 38, business man.
“We should be able to relate to one another and have a strong bond that cannot die out any time. It is important to always stay positive and support your partner throughout the good and the bad,” Lilian Mirembe, self employed
“The most important secret is support, where by you do not ridicule your partner or even undermine them, because once someone begins to feel like they are being taken for granted then the relationship is bound to fail,”
Ambrose Kijjambu, photographer.
“Both partners are supposed to listen to one another, if power and decision in a relationship is dominated by either partner, that relationship cannot work. A married couple should be able to cooperate without fights or quarrels,”
Francis Lubega, Sales manager at Precise Bookshelf
The secret to a happy marriage is understanding each other and marrying a friend. Many people are money-minded and end up in marriages with the wrong people which leads to a miserable marriage,”
Ronah Rwendire, 27, supermarket manager.
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