What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined for life—to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in silent, unspeakable memories at the moment of the last partying?
This was not the case with Jennifer Twikirize, as Christopher (her husband) did not look at her waking up early in the morning to go to work.
He wanted her to quit her job and become a housewife.
Jennifer was the second born amongst seven siblings, and being her father’s favorite child, he made sure that she went to school despite the hardships at the time.
In 1973, after her degree, she got her first job at the Uganda Commercial Bank (UCB) head office in Kampala. Christopher was their customer who got interested in her, and they later got married in Rukungiri.
In December of the same year, they were blessed with a baby girl, and after her maternity leave, Jennifer reported back to work.
Four months later, she was transferred to the Lira branch. Her aim was to pay back her parents for the sacrifices they made by building them a better home and educating her younger siblings.
In April 1975, she gave birth to a baby boy in Lira Hospital. At this point in time, she wanted to put a stop to giving birth. Months later, she was transferred back to Kampala with a promotion as supervisor, where she decided to do an Accounting course at the Uganda College of Commerce (UCC) in Nakawa.
It was after getting this certificate that she was transferred to the UCB Kabale branch as an Accountant.
This news did not amuse Christopher because he had already requested that she resign and become a housewife.
She told him that she did not go to school to be a stay-at-home woman.
One morning, he boarded a bus to Kabale to ask Jennifer’s manager to fire her. She had abandoned her role as a mother and wife, but the manager disappointed him.
The manager told him that as an institution, they do not just fire employees, and besides, Jennifer was an excellent staff member whom they held in high esteem.
He implored Christopher never to go to his office to tell him about issues that did not concern the institution.
Later in the evening, when she returned home, she was asked to choose between her job and their marriage.
“My father did not toil hard for me to end up cutting onions and tomatoes. I choose to work until my last breath. To hell with this marriage!” she said. It was on this day in 1978 that she quit her marriage over her career. Jennifer retired from the banking institution in 2010.
