Nimoh paid to have Catherine’s contact

Two become one. Stephen Nimoh Katende, a technician and DJ walked down the aisle with Catherine Natukunda, a counsellor at Joy Medical Centre on April 22. The couple talked to Phionah Nassanga about their love journey. 

For close to two years, Stephen Nimoh Katende had stalked Catherine Natukunda, but one day they met at a mobile money booth. Catherine had gone to make a cash deposit while Nimoh had to make a withdraw.  Before him was an elegant woman, but he could not approach.

“I could not take my eyes off her and on the instant, I knew I was in love. However, Catherine’s facial expression was stern. When she walked away, I requested the mobile money operator to give me her contact. The woman was hesitant, but I offered her Shs5, 000,” he reveals.

Unfortunately, the last two digits of the contact were wrong. Something he believes was deliberate. However, staying in the same neighbourhood, he saw Catherine on her way to work and once again he could not resist her. 

“Whenever I got to that place, someone would say ‘bye musawo’ as though they were waiting for me. This continued for a period of time until one day this person called out to me saying he wanted to talk to me,” Catherine recalls.

She was hesitant but a voice from within convinced her to wait and listen to what that person had to say to her.  When he got closer he asked for her phone contact.

Not sure of what would happen next, Nimoh felt confident but wanted to slink away. Later on, he got the contact. Not to mess up again, he immediately called to make sure it was the right number. 

The right  person  
“My first impression of him was not appalling. The first time he called me he asked whether I had someone in my life and when I declined, his response was, “I would like you to be my wife,” I laughed over it, thinking they were just  phone conversations, but now I remember the seriousness in his tone,” she says with a smile.  

When Catherine gave out her contact, she asked Nimoh not to call after 10pm. One phone conversation led to another and before long they talked past midnight. They dedicated to each other Goodnight, a song by Rickman and Lydia Jazmine. 

“That was around 2021,” she recollects.
Despite the fact that some of her friends disapproval of their relationship, Catherine had started to appreciate Katende and never wished to spend a day without hearing from.

“At first I judged him by his physical appearance, but later I came to realise that within him lay a different person.  One that kept his word, lived by actions and feared God,” she relates.   

Nimoh says Catherine might not have been familiar with him, but he was always in her face. He had done enough research about her.

However, what impressed him the most was the interaction between her and his six-year-old daughter the first day they met.

“I have raised my daughter and all she knows is daddy. She is not a people person but when she met Cathy I saw warmth in her eyes and the hug she gave her was genuine.  As a single father, this proved that Catherine was the woman for me. Once again my heart was open to love again,” Nimoh explains.

First date
Nimoh and Catherine had their first date in January, 2021 at Hot Springs Gardens in Ndejje.  

“I asked Cathy out for a coffee date on a chilly evening. I had only Shs5,000 and I walked to the venue,” he says.

He arrived before his date.  When she arrived, he offered her a seat, and went to the restaurant to place their order. To his surprise, he says, a cup of tea not coffee cost Shs5, 000.  He paid and pretended to be fine as Catherine  took the tea.

Being their first, she says Nimoh still seemed shy. However, after one week, they had another date, but this time the two were prepared and had a good time.

“This time, I told him everything about my past relationship and the father of my son. It was upon him to accept me for who I was or end it there.  All he said was, “I want you to be my wife.”

Proposal
The duo accepted that they had parental responsibilities and their relationship had to involve their two children.

“We had to build the relationship between our children and since they are of the same age, bonding was fluid. His daughter was now going to have a mother figure and my son was to have a father figure as well, someone that would stand up for them,”she says.

Having agreed on how to raise their children, and ensuring that the two were now bonding, the couple started looking forward to staying together.   

They had set June 12, 2021 for kukyaala, but was interfered by the second lockdown.  

“We had bought everything, and had hired clothes but everything went west.  But we held our kukyaala on January 20. After the function as he was leaving, he went on his knee and proposed to me in the presence of my parents. He promised that on April 20, we would walk down the aisle. This seemed like a dream, because he set the date without my knowledge,” she says.

Preps  
The couple rescheduled to April 22 and they now had two months to plan for their wedding day and have everything sorted. And the couple thanks Dr Patrick Ddawula, Mama Amal,  Ms Grace Nafuna Mugerwa and Mr Francis Masembe that stood by them to ensure a successful day.   

“These people relieved us of any stress, some of them went on to discuss without our consent as long as it was the best. I never had a wedding planner, so I shopped for everything with my matron and bridesmaids,” She says.

“I looked out for my gown, my maids decided on what they wanted and each time I called out on them they were positive.  And the applied to groomsmen.”

Because of their tight work schedules the couple decided to hold online meetings and three weeks to the function they held two physical meetings in which they interacted with their service providers.  

The two  were wedded by Bishop Patrick Makumbi at Global Healing International Centre Church, Lweza. 

Stephen Nimoh Katende,Catherine Natukunda,Bishop Patrick Makumbi,Global Healing International Centre Church,Lweza

Tit bits
Date: April 22, 2023
Groom: Stephen Nimoh Katende
Bride: Catherine Natukunda
Officiant: Bishop Patrick Makumbi 
Church: Global Healing International Centre Church, Lweza.
Reception: Ad-li Bitum Gardens Garuga 
Guests: 100