One of Uganda’s the long-term challenges to the country’s economic development has been high rates of unemployment among the young Ugandans.
However as many decry of the above challenge not forgetting the notable efforts put up by the government to calm down the situation.
Uganda Association of External Recruitment Agencies has been busy behind the scenes carrying out its operations by ensuring that young Ugandans get genuine and well-off jobs as they work Abroad especially in the countries of United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Decent employment opportunities have been advertised through genuine recruitment agencies under the supervision of their umbrella body, Uganda Association of External Recruitment Agencies.
With Uganda Association of External Recruitment Agencies in place, protection of migrant workers, observation of their human rights and welfare in accordance with the international labour standards have been observed and this has helped many Ugandans work abroad and remit money home which has improved the lives of their families and relatives.
Currently, Uganda has over 140,000 Ugandans, working in the Middle East.
Over US $ 500,000,000 (Five Hundred Million) is remitted annually by these migrant workers. US$ 870,000,000 (Eight Hundred Seventy Million dollars) is remitted to Uganda Annually from other parts of the world.
This accounts for US $ 1,370,000,000 (One Billion, Three hundred Seventy Million dollars) of remittances from all over the world to Uganda a substantial contribution to our Economy.
The remittances have positively impacted on the society and our reporter moved to the grassroots to profile some of the Ugandans who went abroad for employment.
Nkuba Kyeyo from Qatar makes Hadijah Nalubega a Land Lady
In these series of success stories, we visited Hadijah Nalubega’s home in Matuga, Wakiso District.
Hadijah Nalubega, 32, never imagined she would one day become a landlady given the fact that her job in Uganda wasn’t satisfying.
However, after securing a job as a salesperson Qatar in 2014, Nalubega is closer to becoming a landlady.
She is setting up rentals in Matuga along Bombo road.
Nalubega, a graduate of Information Technology from Makerere University says she sought a job a broad because the job she had wasn’t the best.
“I had bigger plans, but the job I had wasn’t well paying. I tendered in my application to work abroad as a sales lady in Americana Food Company,” Nalubega said before adding that after a few days she was called for interviews.
“I was then called to pick up my Visa and got my air ticket to Qatar,” she says.
Asked about how life is in Qatar, Nalubega said: “Life is good because we live basing on Qatar laws; each person has equal rights, so there is no human trafficking.”
Nalubega’s mother and sister – Maimunah Nabukenya have shared the fruits of her work.
On returning from Qatar after 2 years for her vacation, Nalubega revealed to Maimunah that “she wanted to invest her money”, and Maimunah was positive.
“I told her it is okay, we can plan and I will help you run the projects,” Maimunah says in the interview.
Shortly they began constructing rental houses, and Nalubega went back to “make more money to complete the project.”
The building has three rentals; two of them have a sitting room and they are self-contained, while the other is “just a double self-contained house.”
Nalubega’s mum urges parents to always make use of their children’s money because “most children go abroad, and come back only to find their money wasted by relatives.”
She also expressed her gratitude to the recruiting agency for giving her daughter an opportunity of making a living for herself.
Dickson Mugonjo Rising from Waiter to Head Security at Dubai Company
In 2015, Dickson Mugonjo who hails from Rwenkyakala cell, Kandago parish, Bukinda sub-county in Rukiga district was among Ugandans to work in Dubai.
At the time, he couldn’t imagine what the future of working overseas held for him.
Mugonjo, 26, was taken to work as a waiter in a Dubai catering franchise, but due to hard work and commitment he has consequently been promoted to the company’s head of security.
The company is called Alrahmaniah Food Meals and Catering LLC.
It goes out without saying, with the added titles to Mugonjo came lots of benefits, and eventually lots of savings.
With some savings at hand, the enthusiastic Mugonjo decided to invest the money in his relatives and family, who have also not disappointed him.
Mugonjo has been able to set up a beautiful permanent house for his family, which has seen them move from a crumbling structure in which Mugonjo was born in 26 years ago.
Mugonjo’s mum said they were grateful to the genuine recruitment agency for having taken their son, and trained him so well that he was now changing the lives of his siblings and other relatives.
The mum revealed that she was particularly “happy to see the fruits of his sweat.”
Additionally, she said Mugonjo was also paying school fees for other children in the family.
Genuine Recruitment Agency Financially Rescues Jinja Family
The whole village of Buwenge in Jinja district has been transformed economically in recent years after one of their daughters went to Dubai for a job.
Hasifah Basirika, a pancakes maker in Buwenge, Jinja says that they were very poor and when she heard of abroad jobs, she thought this was an opportunity for her daughter Halima Nantongo to go for ‘kyeyo’ in Dubai.
“I had never been to Kampala but I traveled to secure a slot for my child” Basirika says before adding that; “They took Nantongo to Dubai and she has been there for three years now.”
She adds that they were very poor, but their financial status has since greatly improved since their daughter sends them money.
“I also now have my cows; I am able to take milk,” she says.
Nantongo’s father, Siraje Kafeero revealed that Nantongo financed and helped her sister, Sharifah Nakafeero to go work in Qatar as a cleaner.
“She has also been paying school fees for her siblings,” Kafeero says, adding: “She has also bought land worth Shs8m in Buwenge where she plans to set up a school.
3 Children In UAE Have Greatly Transformed Our Living-The Katendes
Hajji Hassan Katende and his wife Nassali Janat Katende are quite an admirable couple and family, thanks to the transformation they have undergone in recent years.
While they were not badly off financially, the opportunity to take their three children to United Arab Emirates (UAE) for jobs has greatly improved their financial standing and prestige.
In his own words, a jovial Katende says, “My own children who are working in UAE are three, but when people saw me progressing, they started giving me children to take them to genuine recruitment agencies to help them secure work abroad.”
They are located in Kaberebere Town Council, Isingiro district but they are quite far in terms of welfare compared to many Kampala dwellers.
He adds that his first son Hadadi Katende, who was the first to go, has already built a plush residential house besides other business.
He explains that his son has been sending home money and once it accumulates, he (dad) invests it in beans and maize produce, thus the son’s money has been increasing over time.
“When it accumulated, I advised him to buy land and later I told him to build a house and he obliged,” he says, adding that his son has also bought him a car, an upgrade from a motorcycle he has been used to.
His wife Nassali, the mother to the three children working abroad, adds that Hadadi, 27, went for a cleaning job in UAE.
“We have had open communication with our children. We tell them what their money has done. His dad bought for him land and started building for him this house in his first contract. For the second contract, he is still saving,” she says, adding that her 2nd child to go Fatuma Sserungaya has also bought land for farming projects. The land was bought two years ago at Shs17m.
“She plans to build a house and do farming. The banana plantation is also hers,” she says.
She explains that the 3rd, Nasim Sserungaya, recently sent them money to renovate their house.
“We painted the house inside and outside. We have the tank behind,” she says of her daughter, who also bought land and built commercial shops and a residential house.
