Willis Raburu: Our honeymoon was a disaster!

An unappealing hotel room, lack of sufficient funds and a couple that knew quite little about each other were all it took to ruin Citizen Television show host Willis Raburu’s May 2017 honeymoon with his then-new wife Mary Ngami-Raburu.

Though the couple did not reveal the exact honeymoon venue, Mr Raburu says their experience at the site was a “disaster”.

Speaking on Citizen TV programme Woman Without Limits, hosted by Reverend Kathy Kiuna, the pair narrated their worth-forgetting honeymoon experience that lasted one week.

“Our honeymoon was a disaster. I was paying for our honeymoon on the day of our wedding. And, making it worse, I sent half the money that was needed because I did not have enough cash with me on that day,” Willis Raburu told Rev. Kiuna on the show aired on Saturday, April 27.

“We went for the honeymoon… It was one to forget! I did not know her tastes and what she liked. All the time, I used to tell her: ‘You like the fine things in life’, which is true.

“It [honeymoon] was chaos! I was like: ‘I have brought somebody’s daughter here, and on our first day, she wants to cry… And you know on top of that… how do you say it in a good way…. She was in the zone. So, there was no activity at the junction… So, ni kupendana tu like a brother and sister oh.

“I could see she was wearing that face of: ‘Tumejaribu; I know we are not where we should be, but we are somewhere’. She was disappointed, and what even stressed me more was that we had to stay there for one week,” said Willis Raburu.

On her part, Mary said she did not like the room they were booked into.

“This room had a bed that was too high… I had to literally climb it. And, even if you think of the activity at the junction, there were some things we couldn’t do [on that bed]. The room also had millipedes coloured black and red.  They could appear anywhere. You could sleep and wake up, and see the millipedes on the frame of the bed,” said Mary.

“There was this day that a black animal resembling a monitor lizard just got into the room. We went to complain to the hotel owners – Italians, but they did not take any meaningful action. Every other time I was just scared,” said Mary.

“Some other time you’d hear some sounds in the seat. The sounds were akin to claws scratching the seats. The hotel attendants did not help us much, even when we called them. We were forced to move the seat outside the room, and mark you, the time was 1am,” said Mary.

“We used to put towels on lower opening between the door and the floor,” said Willis Raburu.

“The room also had snails. That was our honeymoon. I was like it was chaos,” said the Citizen TV host.

Mr Raburu also opened up, in the interview, on how he made up his mind to marry Mary.

The journalist said it was during his birthday in 2016 that he realised Mary possesses every ‘wife-material’ quality he wished his partner would have.

“She took me out on my birthday. During the celebrations, she told me: ‘You are seeing all these guys who have come here…. Not all of them are your friends; some are associating with you because you are on television. Do you know who your real friend is? Jesus is. I was like” ‘Wow! Now this one will be my wife!’” said Willis Raburu.

“I, thereafter, started planning on buying an engagement ring. I saved toward it. But every other time I would say: ‘This is the day [I am getting the ring]’, I end up realising that the money wasn’t enough. I would go to an Indian jewellery trader’s shop, and the seller will be like: ‘The kind of carat you want on your ring [is expensive]. So, you have to add money’. I was forced to postpone my engagement multiple times. My wife would suggest she was getting impatient with my delay. Finally, I engaged her and we had a beautiful wedding.”

The couple tied the knot on May 6, 2017.