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High school friends wed 13 years after prom date
The Kasiryes during the interview at the Children’s Public Park on Kira Road, Kampala. PHOTOS/Edgar R. Batte
What you need to know:
Nearly a decade after high school, Arthur Kasirye and Cerinah Nalwoga bumped into each other. From that moment, Kasirye never let her out of his sight, even offering her a job at his IT firm.
Destiny had it that Arthur Kasirye and Cerinah Nalwoga would eventually get married.
The two were friends in high school between 2007 and 2008, confided in each other, and were a ‘couple’ on their Senior Four prom date in 2008.
After 2008, they went separate ways and lost contact until January 2019 when they met at Innovation Village, in Ntinda. He was glad to reconnect with her as they reignited their friendship
She was still the God-fearing girl he knew but their interaction this time came with much more. She was older, prettier and her values had not changed a bit which drew him in.
Along the way, he started developing feelings for her. But his heart would skip at the thought of losing her if he confessed that he was attracted to her in a romantic way.
Their connection had grown deep to a point that he considered her his best friend.
Working smart
He acted smart, inviting her to become his business partner at Kasirye Labs, an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) company he founded and operates.
She accepted and fruitfully complemented him.
He only discovered that love is hard to kill when Nalwoga told him that she was going out of town, to Masindi, with a friend.
He asked to join them.
She asked her friend if she was okay if he could come.
The friend accepted.
“I had worked for two years with no break. In the ICT world, you may have international clients who keep you busy, even at night, because of the time differences so I needed to take a break and I was happy to spend it with her,” Kasirye recalls.
The trio had fun, went bird watching, and bonded while at it. He liked her and for a second, he thought how embarrassing it would have turned out if she got hooked and married to someone else when she was right before his eyes every day and knew she had the traits she admired and sought.
After the trip to Masindi, he confirmed that she was single and available.
“I always spoke highly of him with my friends. Maybe that was my attraction to him,” she recounts.
When his mother went to visit him at school, he introduced her as his best friend. When they reconnected, as adults, much of their past seemed a fertile ground to build a commitment.
He was fast.
When they started dating, he initiated the conversation about their wedding.
She got stressed; he was talking about the wedding without a mention of a proposal!
“When I started looking for a wedding gown, I told one of my friends that I felt bad that I was looking for one yet he had not proposed,” she recalls.
“I never took engagement seriously,” he confesses.
On this year’s Valentine’s Day she bought him a gift but he had not.
The proposal
Of course this annoyed her but accepted to cycle with him to Botanical Gardens on February 20 where he had invited some of his friends.
“We always had cycling dates but this time everyone around seemed caring and I was happy,” she recalls.
When they got to the gardens, she asked to rest and for a minute looked the other way. When she turned back, he was down on his knee with a ring in his hands, smiling. He asked her to marry him.
She was taken aback, in disbelief that he was actually proposing to marry her.
“She was happy. I did not invite her girlfriends because they would give away the surprise,” he adds.
On August 21, 2021, the two got married.
She sang ‘Love will be our home’ by Susan Ashton for him on their wedding day.
“We have set out to have a God-centred marriage, with forgiveness. We work together. I know he loves me and I want him to know I love him,” she explains.
He hails from a strong Christian family.
“I have a past. It is not every day that you find someone you can resonate with, I found a partner in Cerinah,” he confesses.
