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    Whatever happened to ... the pandemic-delayed wedding dreams of Patrick and Fiona?

    They finally came true! He's Malawian. She's Dutch. They fell in love and hoped to wed but the pandemic got in the way. Here's the story of the happy day — and the latest challenge in their lives.
    by Nick Schonfeld Aug 28, 2022 5 minutes
    Fiona ten Have and Patrick Phiri pose for a wedding portrait in front of the same hedge where NPR photographed them during his first visit to the Netherlands (see photo, below).

    We've been following the pandemic love affair of Patrick Phiri of Malawi and Fiona ten Have of the Netherlands. They first met when they were working for Heifer International, a nonprofit group that supports agricultural projects. In March of 2020 Patrick arrived in the small Dutch village of Middelstum (population 2,419) in the far north of the Netherlands to ask Fiona's parents for permission to marry her. They said yes, but pandemic travel bans stretched his three-week visit to seven and a half months. There were further delays in their wedding plans — but this summer the couple finally wed.

    Wednesday, July 27, 2022 is a warm and beautiful blue-sky day in Middelstum, the Netherlands. Patrick Phiri stands next to me, fidgeting nervously with his violet boutonnière — the little bouquet worn on the lapel of a men's suit jacket. I put down my recorder and notebook and give him a hand.

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