When Christine Haycox wakes up on a Sunday morning, her day is a far cry from how it used to be six years ago. Instead of bowing her head in prayer in a church in Leeds, she is now the one being worshipped – by her younger husband, Hamza, in their home in Tunisia.
Grandmother Christine met her beau when she was 67 and began teaching English online. Christine, now 73, was taken aback by how attractive her international pupil was.
Tunisian student Hamza Dridi, then 33, was 34 years younger than Christine and the same age as her son but, despite everything, sparks flew between the two.
In a fit of spontaneity, Christine flew to Hamza’s hometown in Nabeul, Tunisia, and embarked a whirlwind romance unlike any she had experienced for years. Desperately happy, Christine decided to stay with her new man and begin a new life with him.
The two tied the knot and are still just as content as ever. Christine says, ‘Sometimes I can’t believe how much my life has changed. I used to lead a quiet life, but now I live in a stunning African country and am head over heels. I feel so lucky.’
In January 2018, as a committed Christian, mum of two grown-up children and a grandmother, Christine’s mind was far from romance, and she was happy to focus her energy on her faith and her work.
She says, ‘Long since divorced and single for six years, I reckoned I was done with romance. I taught English in an academy and volunteered with a church group teaching English to asylum seekers and refugees. But as I spoke French as well and was looking for a bit of extra income, I also decided to teach online.’
Christine placed an advert online looking for students from French-speaking countries like Cameroon, Morocco and Senegal who were keen to learn English. But some of the responses were not at all what she was expecting. ‘I would get sent very explicit messages and photos,’ Christine recalls. ‘But eventually I got a polite response from a man in Tunisia named Hamza, who seemed serious about learning English.
‘We agreed on daily video calls in the evening and, as I connected to our first session, I felt something in me reawaken. Hamza was gorgeous, but I was 67 and this beautiful man lived half the world away and was 33 to 34 years younger than me! I told myself I was being silly to think anything
romantic could happen.’
As their sessions went on, Hamza told Christine in broken English and French about his life in Tunisia, his job in a sports bar and how close he was to his family.
‘We shared a silly sense of humour and laughed through lessons like teenagers,’ Christine explains. ‘But then, one day, I received a very different message from him. It read, “I would like to have a sexual relationship with you.” I knew Google translate was to blame for such an explicit translation, but I knew what he meant – and I wanted the same thing.’
Hamza asked Christine to visit him in Tunisia, so in March 2018, Christine took a two-week holiday and flew from the UK to Hamza’s hometown. She says, ‘I’d never been to Africa before, but every fibre of my being knew I had to be with him. We had only known each other for eight weeks when
I packed a small suitcase and hopped on that plane.
‘When I spotted Hamza in arrivals at the airport, I expected him to sweep me into his arms, kissing me like something from a romance novel. But he didn’t. It was all so different from what I was expecting, I began to worry that I’d made a huge mistake and misread the situation.
‘But it turned out that you can’t show affection in public in Tunisia, and when I went to bed, Hamza slipped in beside me. In a frenzy, his lips met mine. His hands explored parts of me no man had touched in years. It was wonderful.
‘In company, Hamza was every inch the gentleman, but behind closed doors he was a stallion. We had sex every day without fail. He didn’t mind my wobbly bits or ageing skin, and while the sex was mind-blowing, it was more than just physical. He treated me like a princess.’
When the holiday came to a close, Christine realised she didn’t want to leave, so she called her son and told him she was staying in Tunisia with Hamza. She says, ‘He gave his blessing and, overnight, I made myself a new life. I quit my job in the UK and started teaching English in a local hotel. As I integrated into life in Tunisia, Hamza took to cooking most of our meals, rustling up delicious lasagnes and tagines.
‘While I cleaned the kitchen, Hamza did the rest of the house and managed the washing. I’d never been treated so well. One day, Hamza announced that I was his wife. We were both desperate for it to be legal, but getting the correct paperwork took two years. Eventually, we had a small traditional ceremony at Hamza’s family home with around 15 guests on New Year’s Eve 2020.’
Christine adds, ‘Hamza’s parents welcomed me into the family and, though they were both eight years younger than me, they never batted an eyelid over my relationship with their son. That summer, I converted to Islam. I had been fascinated by the faith for years and it felt natural.
‘Since we’ve been married I have been diagnosed with arthritis and now use a stick and sometimes a wheelchair. It doesn’t bother Hamza though and we continue to have sex regularly. Of course, not everyone understands our relationship and people sometimes stare at us in the street. We’re happy and in love though and, although I’m 73 now, I reckon I have a good few decades left. I know Hamza wants to be a dad, but he wants me more.
‘After six years in Tunisia, I’m not looking back. Hamza makes me so happy, we laugh constantly and the sex is as good – and frequent – as ever. I fall asleep with a gorgeous man beside me and wake to find he’s made me coffee. What more could I want?’
Hamza, now 39, tells Closer, ‘We have a very good relationship. We have our problems but it’s good and we manage. We are very happy [and there are] no problems with Christine’s age. The only problems [occur when] I want to take her somewhere and she is tired.’