une 23, was a big one for the family of Lucy and Owora Ojumbo. Four of their seven biological children shared a wedding day, bringing four daughters-in-law at a go to their family.

Stephen Wandera, 48,wedded Maureen Asinde, Silver Ofwono, 44,wedded Teresa Aboth, Peter Owora, 37, wedded Grace Achieng and Richard Oloka, 24,wedded Rose Awuma, in an event that left the village in awe, as the event saved them lots of cash.

Lucy Ojumbo, the mother of the four grooms, said she was relieved of the stress that she has had since her husband died on May 12, 1989, leaving her with the small children to take care of as a single mother.

“When the killers came home and picked my husband, these children were very young and I was helpless. I had to run to my brother in Tororo, who gave me land to build and look after my children,” she said.

Speaking at the wedding reception held in Nagongera town, Lucy said Rev Fr Okoth encouraged her to leave her brother’s home and go back to her marital home, because she had many children – most of them boys – and other people would grab their land.

To see her once little boys now all grown up and quadruple her joy like they did on Saturday, the single mother looked set to burst with joy. She danced like no one was watching and dressed to kill in a red gomesi.

“My heart is always with God, asking for more blessings,” she said.

She told hundreds of guests from Kampala and beyond, that one day she went to church and asked the priest for a special prayer for her children to receive holy matrimony.

“I went to visit the children in Kampala and asked them to organize a memorial mass for their late dad because I was getting dreams,” she said. “While in the meeting, one of them asked, ‘Can’t we wed on the same day as the memorial service?’ I said, why not?And finally today my children have been wedded in one go. I thank God.”

Rev Fr Martin Andama of Mulago Catholic parish, where Ofwono and Wandera pray from, said it was his first time to officiate at a wedding for four brothers and “we had to travel all the way from Kampala to attend this historical wedding”.

“We have been wedding 20 or 100 couples but never from the same family, and to me this is really a blessing. I want these couples to keep their sacrament of matrimony and they should keep love in their families,” he said.

Wandera, a photojournalist with Daily Monitor said this function started as memorial service for their late father and five other people that were hanged by unknown assailants the same night, for unknown reasons to this day.The family has been celebrating their father’s memory every year, but this has by far been the grandest.

“When last year we did not hold the celebration, mum came to Kampala and asked us to organize this year. In the same meeting my wife (Maureen Asinde) asked that we combine it with a wedding because it will involve a priest travelling home with us,” Wandera said.

“My wife took another step and went and asked my brother Ofwono’s wife [if she minded a joint wedding]and she loved the idea. Mum told me our wives wanted a wedding on the same day, but I took time to answer them.”

When Wandera mulled over their suggestion, he realized it would be cheaper to hold the wedding at once, because the priest would have come home and lunch would be prepared, anyway. The idea grew on him; after all, weren’t they all postponing their weddings because of a lack of funds for a grand do?

But as he thought about the essentials of a wedding and what holy matrimony meant, he liked the suggestion more.

“I held talks with my younger brothers and four out of six, agreed; at the beginning of May, the banns started being read every Sunday in church,” Wandera told The Observer. “We realized we have many relatives and friends and if we did not invite them they would have negative feelings. Our women went to their homes to meet their family members and mobilized funds and their contributions made this function big.”

The fundraising

Wandera said, being the eldest brother, he wanted something joyful that would unite them as brothers, especially knowing the brutal way their father was killed; wedding in his memory was the most uniting factor.

“My Interest was not on how much money we had to spend, but seeing us wed. We set up a sharp committee and told them we had three cows at home as the start,”he said. “In our culture these days it very difficult to find more than three brothers walking together, so I pray this continues in our family and others can copy us.”

Richard Oloka, the youngest of the grooms and a policeman based in Somalia, said when Ofwono – a photographer – contacted him on phone about the proposed joint wedding, he quickly accepted, but asked to know the budget.

Oloka said the budget required Shs 26m and that was for only food, church fee, venue, decoration and music without clothes expenses, which was a shock to him.

He said to break the costs down, they agreed that each couple buys its own clothes, pay individual transport costs and a cake, which would cost us Shs 5m each.

“I am happy to see this through; four brothers in the same church, venue,share the same food, dance to the same music, haa!This was historical. I have never heard of it elsewhere,” he said.

Rose Awuma, now Mrs Oloka, said she is so excited to be wedded, because she used to admire married couples. When she received the news of the plans, she was so happy to be wedded despite the challenges.

Grace Achieng, Peter Owora’s wife, and the second youngest couple, said this wedding found her off.

“Mama Alpha (Wandera’s wife) called me and informed me of the joint wedding on short notice, but I told her I was not ready and I took it as a joke.”

“A few days later, Mama Chilla (Ofwono’s wife) also called me convincing me to invite 20 people,but I quickly told her: ‘you people leave me out because I do not have money to buy a gown and feed my people. You know very well I come from the same locality; how would I wed without my relatives around?’” Achieng said.

But then she saw how the budget had been simplified. She came on board, organised meetings at her parents’ home and people contributed.

Owora said the wedding was fine but only wished he had more money to make it even more colorful. Still, he is happy with how everything went and the main purpose was for the wedding to unite their family.

The wedding

The four couples were wedded at St Willbrod Catholic Church, Nagongera at 1pm and later held their reception at Nagongera in centrally-located gardens, that could be easily accessed by all the families that happen to come from the area.

Wandera was the first to arrive at church, since the grooms had spent the night in different hotels in Tororo. Soon his younger siblings that look so much like him, trickled in with their groomsmen, before the brides in white gowns marched in with their respective maids.

It was a big wedding with more than 1,000 guests and the atmosphere was pulsating with jubilation. Because the couples had been cohabiting and have children, energetic teenagers were seen pulling their grandmother to the dance floor again and again.

When the MC asked guests to bring gifts for the newlyweds, the music switched to Jopadhola beats and guests danced down the queue in traditional rhythm, bringing all sorts of gifts; no one came empty-handed.

Firewood, pots, brooms, reed-weaved baskets, jerrycans…it was the strangest, yet most thoughtful array of presents I had ever seen at a wedding. And the guests’ happiness seemed so genuine!

Their late father must have been watching from yonder with a big smile on his face.