Eleven years ago, Tifine Wise and Samuel Kimari were introduced to each other by a mutual friend.

Unbeknownst to them, they were neighbours in their hometown in Nakuru.

Despite never having met before the said set-up meeting, they would constantly bump into each other in the Nakuru streets, in the shops, everywhere after the meeting.

Coincidence or fate or both, no one knows. Love blossomed, watered by good intentions and regular meet-ups.

But no love story is ever without challenges. Theirs came in the form of a move to Nairobi city.

“In Nakuru, you can do so much with a bit of money. In Nairobi, it is harder to stretch money.

As a struggling young man trying to make it in the big city while in campus and still dating the love of my life, it was hard.

There are days she shared her salary with me because mine had been delayed.

She was committed to me and helped me find and know who I was with or without money. I am forever grateful for that,” Kimari shares.

While Kimari was touched by the fact that his then girlfriend was willing to share her money with him despite this hurting his masculine need to provide, for Tifine it was just a simple gesture of love.

They share how from this, they have cultivated a culture of openness and trust where they share all their financial details whether it is in form of a salary, a raise, a side hustle payment, or even a bonus. 

They say how their relationship was not built in a day as they have had to accommodate and learn from each other.

Tifine shares how she has learnt to be a better communicator from Kimari while Kimari has learnt to be patient and giving from his wife.

“Relationships are hard work and about being intentional as these are two people coming together from different backgrounds and experiences.

I am a lastborn. I wanted to be heard and would either throw tantrums or give him the silent treatment expecting him to come to soothe me and somehow decipher what was wrong with me.

He was patient enough with me and taught me to calmly communicate what I need without throwing a fit.

There was a lot of adjusting that we both had to do to accommodate each other,” Tifine says candidly.

Growing together

The pair would move in together in 2016 after six years of dating and formalise their union through a traditional ceremony in 2018.

Soon after, they got two beautiful girls, Hailey aged five, and Ivanna, two. The thing about children is that they cement a relationship and shift focus outwards towards them.

Children can either highlight cracks in the relationship that need fixing or show the glue that bonds you together, they share.

For Tifine, the children further grounded her in the relationship as they were a physical manifestation of their love.

The couple say how the children made them want to live better lives and build a happy union as they wanted their little ones to know the true meaning of love, hard work and happiness modelled firsthand by them.

“I hope to inculcate in our children good values. Values supersede material wealth.

That with hard work you can pick something, stick with it, and excel in it. I want them to know God and to learn to be independent.

I want them to know what love and happiness feel and look like so that they never fall for a warped kind of love.

I want them to know what love and respect look and feel like. We know what it feels like because it was modelled to us by our families, we hope to do the same for them,” Kimari emotes.

The couple is the perfect definition of growing together emotionally, physically, and financially.

They have built a relationship based on trust and friendship and hope to inspire others to live full and happy lives through their Youtube channel named Tifine Wise.

Tifine shares that she has always loved inspiring others through storytelling. She saw an opportunity to do that by telling her authentic story about love, life, and motherhood on YouTube.

Her husband Kimari agreed and helped her create content and launch her channel in December 2020. 

He gladly helps her come up with ideas to shoot for her channel. The couple shares how the channel is a blessing as it at times precedes them.

Some of their clients know of them from YouTube long before they know them personally.

“I am a customer retention officer while my husband is in IT. We have met clients who know of us from YouTube.

Most of them are friendly and talk to us and share what they love about our channel, which we love as we created the platform to inspire others to live their most authentic lives,” Tifine shares.

Make time

With two children, two thriving careers, and a YouTube channel with over 20,000 subscribers, how does the pair keep their love for each other alive? Kimari shares that love is intentional.

One has to be intentional about what needs to be done and ensure that they fill their lives together with shared moments of love and bonding. Tifine wholly agrees.

“There will never be enough time in a day. We, therefore, have to consciously plan for dates.

We go for regular dates. During our drive to and from work, we talk and bond with each other.

Over the weekend, we plan for dates and hang out just the two of us. We love cooking together and going on road trips while talking about everything and anything under the universe.

We of course also have family dates where we go as a unit and bond,” Tifine explains.

As the interview winds up, the couple shares what they love about each other.

Tifine loves her husband’s patience and how he is her thought partner through both small and big life decisions.

Kimari loves how nurturing and caring Tifine is and just how focused she is in life as it has invariably made him more focused.

Parenting and doing life together with your best friend makes everything easier whether it is working through obstacles or going through good times.