Yafesi and Joyce Musoke are an artistic couple who are actors, television and film producers and directors at Cheese Pictures.
They often feature on billboards, television series and adverts. Yafesi is also a radio presenter and a script and copy writer.
Married for eleven years, Yafesi met Joyce during their college years at Daystar University through a mutual friend. "Joyce said something silly and I was the only one there who got it.
She is very funny and down-to-earth. She's is also hot and not easily fooled by outward appearance," he says. Yafesi and Joyce enjoyed participating in drama club together.
Joyce adds, "We became really good friends and everyone around us kept asking if we were a couple, which is when we started to wonder as well if we were!"
Yafesi says, "I officially asked her out after a few months. However, I cannot remember our first date because we had gone for a number of group dates before we 'labelled' ourselves an item. But I think we ate something simple like masala chips. I doubt it was a movie. She doesn't do well on movie dates."
Joyce agrees, "I fall asleep at the movies, but we were good friends and had good conversations over hot tea and mandazi at the campus dining hall.
During courtship we dreamt up plays...wrote them....produced them....got stressed over them...pretty much the same thing we do now." The couple says that their courtship was based on respect.
"It may sound cliché but that respect included rules like no sex, no lies and no fighting unfair. We wrote plays, did (some) class assignments, attended gigs and events, travelled together, hang out with friends and named cats....Joyce loves cats," says Yafesi.
I ask Joyce what on earth she saw in Yafesi and this is what she has to say: "He speaks respectfully and is very careful with words. He has been known to use words like 'surcease' casually in a sentence.
He is a gentleman, trustworthy and dependable, well raised and very good company." Yafesi and Joyce are a cross-cultural couple and have had quite the experience learning how to accommodate each other.
"I married into a culture that serves six to eight dishes for dinner on a regular day. In my culture of origin all those six to eight things are cooked in one pot because it saves time and dishes!" Joyce says.
For Yafesi, exuding friendly confidence when meeting Joyce's relatives yields cheerful conversations in her vernacular. "It usually takes two or three unanswered questions before her relatives realise that I cannot speak the language.
However, what is more important is to marry the right person with whom you are compatible emotionally, intellectually, spiritually and one with whom you are able to honour your parents ....and one who is your best friend."
Yafesi knew for a long time that he wanted to marry Joyce. "After working together on a number of ambitious projects and seeing just how our strengths complemented each other, I knew I wanted to marry her.
We saw each other even during unglamorous times." Yafesi eventually proposed in an unconventional way. "Times were financially tough. I proposed twice without a ring and once with a ring (I think). Believe it or not I actually got her a proper engagement ring long after we got engaged, because that's when I could afford it."
Joyce apparently hates surprises so a simple engagement was more her style.
"He knows that I really don't like surprises and I am not too much of a ceremony and fuss person either! So thankfully for me, the proposal was an ongoing conversation rather than an 'event'."
They decided to have a church wedding with a garden reception. Yafesi says, "We wanted to start on time, keep it short and filled with laughter. Also, our food tent caught fire but we didn't know about it because our crazy amazing friends kept it from us."
"We didn't have much money or interest in a glamorous wedding so we agreed to be as goofy as possible to distract guests from all the 'things' that we did not have," Joyce adds.
Both Joyce and Yafesi are actors and TV and film producers, so there was always the possibility that one or both of them would use their skills to hide who they really were.
But so far, they have tried to keep it real. "We have been together 16 years, 11 of which we have been married. We just know when the other person is trying to hide something or not being fully upfront," explains Yafesi.
After many years of marriage, they say that their house is a bit of a free-to-be-silly space. They ensure that there is freedom to share boring jokes (they say they have many of those), to share good ones, freedom to sing off key and freedom to dance with reckless abandon.
"No one will judge you. In fact, they might just join you in your horrible moves," Joyce says.
Joyce and Yafesi have been blessed with three amazing children.
