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.
Although they are located in Kaberebere Town Council, Isingiro district, they are economically very far compared to many Kampala dwellers.
“We were not badly off financially, but the opportunity to take our three children to United Arab Emirates (UAE) for jobs through Middle East Consultants has greatly improved our financial status,” Hajji Katende says. He revealed this during Middle East Consultants’ recent visit to the family to find out how children working in UAE are progressing back home.
He adds: “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 Middle East.”
He reveals that his first son Hadadi Katende, who was the first to go, has already built a plush residential house besides other businesses.
He intends to return home early next year and start a family after spending about four years on ‘Kyeyo’ abroad.
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 of the three children working abroad, adds that Hadadi, 25, went for a cleaning job in UAE.
“We have had open communication with our children. We tell them what their money has done. His (Hadadi’s) 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 for ‘kyeyo’, 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. She already has matooke on the land,” she says.
She explains that the 3rd child, Nasim Sserungaya , recently sent them money to rehabilitate 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.
Gordon Mugyenyi, the Middle East Consultants Managing Director contributed Shs1.5m worth 50 bags of cement to help her complete the house.
The excited parents thanked him for the support.
During the visit, Mugyenyi revealed that “if all parents can do like you, this economy will do doubt grow faster.”
Middle East Consultants pledged two Friesian cows to Hadadi once he returns and marries.
“I urge parents not to disappoint their children when they send money back home,” he says, calling upon parents and jobless Ugandans to seek advice from them for lucrative jobs abroad.
