Intermarriage is good. It facilitates diversity and mixing up of different genes to deliver something unique.

The practice of marrying beyond boundaries, tribes, races or families is fantastic. A country like Australia has survived because of many people from different parts of the world settled there. US has succeeded because of immigration. People came from Africa, Russia, Europe and intermarried. The results were an intermix of races gave to the birth of future geniuses who have redefined the world we now live in. Of course, there are races like the Jews and Arabas, among others, who have defied all odds and kept other races from mixing. Whether this can be sustained for future generations, as such countries open their boards to emigration, remains to be seen.

You cannot win a war against the right thing to do.

Intermarriage is good practice. It needs to be promoted and embraced across the world. In the Uganda speak, it is ok for someone from Basoga to marry any one of their love regardless of region, tribe or race. The most important thing is the maturity to appreciate different cultures and what is going to be the dominant culture at home. These are some of the choices couples must discuss and agree early in their relationship.

Traditionally in Uganda, the culture of the man has been the dominant one in a home. However, this is changing. Nowadays, we are increasingly seeing the dominant culture being that of the partner who has a lot to bring on the table in terms of money. Whoever is earning a lot or coming from a rich background seems to be having their culture and behaviours as the dominant one in the home. If the lady is a Moslem for example, gets married to a Christian husband who is financially weak, the woman’s culture and behaviour dominate the home. The lady is successful and therefore pulling the ropes. From a cultural standpoint, the man’s culture and beliefs tend to be the dominant in the home. If I am a Munyankole Christian man, I expect my family to be brought up in the same culture. It is the family of the man which finally drives the home.

Couples must choose and deliberately accept the ground rules in their marriage. If you accept to change religion, but fail to do so, after a few years in your marriage, your partner might begin to think you are cheating on your commitment. You promised to change, but after some time when you have given birth to children, you see there is no need to change. You see you have got everything you needed.

Then the other partner starts to get family pressure. They expect the family to be on the same page in the matters spiritual, but it is never practiced. In life, so many things come up after the first choice. You need to have the ground rules and stick to them.