When Jonathan and Janice Dugbartey got married, they had one clear plan: they would not live apart, especially after having children.
Life, however, had other plans.
Nearly five years into their marriage, career opportunities have forced the couple to spend significant periods in different countries. Yet instead of allowing the distance to pull them apart, they say it has taught them important lessons about sacrifice, trust, communication and intentionally protecting a marriage.
Appearing on The Couple Next Door, Sunny 88.7 FM's August Love Unscripted series on the Inspirational Morning Drive (IMDrive), Jonathan and Janice shared the unconventional love story that brought together a public health researcher and a fashion designer — and how they have kept their marriage going across thousands of kilometres.
The Researcher and the Tailor
Janice is a public health researcher with the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, where her work includes research into hypertension management. She also provides educational consulting to people seeking opportunities to study abroad.
Jonathan, popularly known as Nene, describes himself as a sustainable fashion designer.
Together, the couple also founded Creation Care Concept, an initiative that repurposes single-use plastics into fashionable and useful items.
On paper, their professional worlds may appear very different.
That difference, Janice revealed, led some people to question their relationship, particularly because she had initially intended to pursue medicine.
Jonathan, however, saw no contradiction.
"You do your medicine or you do your research. I do my tailoring. When we meet in the house, we do marriage," he said.
For Janice, what mattered was not the perceived prestige of a profession but the excellence and character of the person doing it.
"I'd much rather have an excellent tailor than a mediocre doctor," she said.
Their Unusual First Meeting
Their love story actually began years before either of them realised it.
Janice first encountered Jonathan at a programme where he was teaching women about dressing appropriately for their body types.
She was only 15 at the time.
Jonathan used her as an example during his presentation, an experience Janice admits left her slightly embarrassed but also impressed by his confidence and knowledge.
She would not see him again for about four years.
When they eventually met again at church, Janice reminded him of their earlier encounter. They exchanged numbers, and Jonathan gradually became both her tailor and friend.
It was friendship rather than romance that initially defined their relationship.
That began to change around 2016.
The Makola Trip That Changed Everything
During a visit to Ghana, Janice wanted to learn how to make printed jewellery. Jonathan had experience in the area and offered to teach her.
One day, he took her to Makola Market to buy materials.
Unknown to Janice, Jonathan was watching something far more important than her interest in jewellery.
He was watching how she treated people.
Jonathan explained that they had grown up in different environments and he wanted to see how Janice would interact with ordinary traders and porters in the busy market.
What he saw impressed him.
She treated people respectfully and comfortably interacted with those around her.
For Jonathan, it revealed something about her character.
"This is a sign," he recalled thinking.
After returning from the market, he decided not to waste time.
"I would like to build a family with you. I want to build a life with you," he told her.
Janice did not immediately give him the answer he wanted.
Jonathan jokingly remembers her storming out of the production room after his declaration. Janice disputes the suggestion that she was angry, but either way, a relationship did not begin that day.
Jonathan waited.
Eventually, Janice agreed to begin dating him.
And for Jonathan, dating had only one acceptable destination.
"If I'm starting a relationship, it should head somewhere," he said.
Dating Across the Miles
The couple dated for about four years, with roughly one year spent apart while Janice was abroad.
That period, they say, unknowingly prepared them for what would later become one of the biggest tests of their marriage.
By the time they married, they already understood some of the realities of maintaining a relationship across different countries.
Their original intention, however, was not to repeat it.
"We planned that we wouldn't live apart, especially with children involved," Janice said. "The plan was that we'd always be together, but life just didn't turn out that way."
Shortly after their marriage, Janice became pregnant and travelled to the United States to stay with a woman she describes as a second mother, having lost her biological mother.
She eventually returned to Ghana, but another separation followed when an important career opportunity arose in the United States.
After numerous attempts to find the kind of public health work she wanted locally, Janice finally received an opportunity that could significantly advance her career.
The couple had a decision to make.
Jonathan encouraged her to take it.
A Husband's Sacrifice
By then, the couple had a young daughter.
Jonathan agreed that Janice should pursue the opportunity while he remained in Ghana caring for their child.
For Janice, her husband's willingness to support her career while assuming responsibility for their daughter was significant.
"He was willing to keep her and take care of her, and that's not something you see all the time," she said.
"I chose very well."
But Jonathan's decision came at a real cost.
He explained that he had to take a leave of absence from a production management position, reduce his own production capacity and close one of his production locations so he could devote more time to caring for their daughter, who was only about 15 months old.
He had made a commitment long before becoming a husband that if he ever had children, he would be present in their lives.
Jonathan said growing up without both parents consistently present in the home influenced the kind of husband and father he wanted to become.
As a young man, he deliberately observed the fathers of friends whose character he admired, learning from them what responsible fatherhood looked like.
When Janice's opportunity came, he therefore saw supporting her and caring for their daughter as part of the commitment he had already made to his family.
"I've not regretted it," he said.
Protecting a Long-Distance Marriage
Living apart creates practical challenges for any married couple.
For Jonathan and Janice, technology became essential.
Phones, video calls, smart devices, tripods and plenty of data helped recreate some sense of everyday presence.
Sometimes they did not even need to be actively talking.
They would simply leave a video connection running while going about their activities.
"The videos are on; we are not talking," Jonathan explained. "Just the fact that the sound — I can hear in her room...we know that we are there."
It was particularly important for their young daughter.
Jonathan deliberately surrounded her with photographs and regular video calls with her mother so that the distance would not erase that connection.
But communication alone was not enough.
The couple also recognised the need to protect their marriage.
"Don't Just Have Boundaries — Prevent"
Jonathan spoke candidly about sexual temptation and the need for married couples living apart to avoid putting themselves unnecessarily in compromising situations.
For him, faith is central.
"It's not because I love her; it's because I fear God," he said, explaining that even when his wife is thousands of kilometres away, his belief that God sees his actions remains a powerful personal boundary.
He also developed some unusual practical measures.
At one point, Jonathan kept a mannequin in the front passenger seat of his car, while his daughter's car seat occupied the back.
His reasoning was simple: make it difficult for potentially inappropriate situations to develop in the first place.
Drawing on the biblical story of Joseph fleeing temptation, Jonathan argued that Christians should sometimes go further than preparing to run from temptation.
"Don't put yourself in a situation where you have to now flee," he said.
"Prevent."
He was equally candid that marriage does not eliminate human desire.
"My hormones are not born again," he joked.
His answer is therefore not to pretend temptation does not exist, but to recognise it and establish practical safeguards.
Janice's Simple Boundary: Talk About Your Husband
Janice developed her own approach while living and working abroad.
She deliberately keeps her husband present in everyday conversations.
If a colleague compliments an outfit, she readily explains that her husband made it.
"My husband" became a regular part of her vocabulary.
Her colleagues quickly learned that she was married and that her husband was a fashion designer.
It is a simple practice, but for Janice it reinforces an important reality both to herself and to those around her: there is a husband in her life even when he is physically thousands of kilometres away.
When Marriage Requires Supporting Each Other's Dreams
The Dugbarteys' story challenges the assumption that supporting a spouse always means keeping them physically close.
Sometimes, they say, marriage requires allowing the person you love to pursue an opportunity even when doing so creates inconvenience and sacrifice for you.
Their arrangement has not been easy.
There is the cost of travel and communication, the challenge of parenting across borders, the absence of physical companionship and the constant need to remain intentional about the relationship.
Yet they have found ways to keep choosing the marriage.
For Jonathan, the goal is bigger than surviving a temporary separation.
"I don't want to miss [it] for five minutes and regret for God knows how many years," he said.
As Jonathan and Janice approach their fifth wedding anniversary on August 28, their story is a reminder that marriage does not always unfold according to the original plan.
Sometimes careers change. Countries change. Children arrive. Opportunities emerge. Distance becomes unavoidable.
What matters, their experience suggests, is what a couple decides to do when real life interrupts the plan.
For Jonathan and Janice Dugbartey, the answer has been faith, communication, sacrifice, intentional boundaries — and a determination to keep building their life together, even when they temporarily have to do it from different sides of the world.
The Couple Next Door is part of Sunny 88.7 FM's Love Unscripted series throughout August, featuring honest conversations with couples about what happens after the wedding and the realities of building a life together.
The programme airs on the Inspirational Morning Drive (IMDrive) and can also be followed through Sunny TV and SunnyGH.com.