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Love wins for the Tebandekes through mental health support
Grace Tebandeke and his wife Maureen Ainembabazi after exchanging vows at St Luke Chapel, Butabika, last Saturday. PHOTO | EDGAR BATTE
What you need to know:
- Dr Joseph Kigula Mugambe, a radiologist, recounts that Tebandeke had gone for medical review at the hospital when he met Ainembabazi.
“Maureen and I understand each other. We have empathy for each other, and understand each other. We have known how to live with mental health. With love, we remind each other to take our medication,” Grace Tebandeke told the Monitor in an interview, a day before he wed Maureen Ainembabazi.
The two met and became friends in the corridors of Heart Sounds Uganda, a clubhouse for people with mental illness.
Dr Joseph Kigula Mugambe, a radiologist, recounts that Tebandeke had gone for medical review at the hospital when he met Ainembabazi.
“Grace shared with Maureen that he was short of money, so he asked her to share with him if she had. He shared with him and like that, their friendship grew, and then slowly the romance started,” narrates Dr Kigula, also a director of Ultrasound Centre Limited.
The two met in 2013, lost touch and reconnected in 2017. By coincidence, he met her at Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) showground where she was vending art and craft items at the time.
They were glad to reconnect, so they exchanged numbers and kept in touch.
In 2029, her brother, who supported her in business, passed on. Ainembabazi’s business collapsed, so she decided to leave Kampala for her home town of Rukungiri. They kept in touch and he cared to make sure he shared a few resources with her.
In 2020, Tebandeke asked her to return to Kampala. She agreed, so he sent her transport money to travel and stay with him in Nsimbi Ziwome in Ntinda, a Kampala suburb.
At the time, his maid was leaving to return to the village and his grandmother was sick. Ainembabazi offered to look after her, which was a big relief.
Meanwhile, Tebandeke had told Dr Kigula that he had met someone he was ready to commit to and marry. Unfortunately, Covid-19 broke out and plans to make their relationship official were subsequently halted. With her having moved in, the next their friends heard was that Grace and Maureen had borne a child. Nonetheless, they remained committed to getting married.
Last Saturday, the two lovers gleefully exchanged vows at St Luke Chapel, Butabika, before an audience of relatives, well-wishers and friends.
Reverends Dismus Bwesigye and Susan Ameso officiated their holy matrimony. Ainembabazi says they chose the church because its head, Rev Bwesigye, did not ask them for any money.
After their matrimonial union, the couple hosted guests at the church compound for the official reception party. She confesses falling in love with a man who is humble, God fearing, committed and open.
“We encourage each other to take medicine in time because that is how we will remain mentally healthy,” she says.
He says that they are friends above all.
The couple works together at Bright Morning Star Club International based in Mbale run by Miss Lydia Munabi.
RISING TREND
In 2019, before the outbreak of the pandemic in the country, a total of 467,667 cases of mental health conditions were recorded in out-patient visits in hospitals, while in 2021, the number shot up to 550,373, statistics from the Ministry of Health indicate.
