A woman who spent years working in Dubai to secure a future for her five children came home to find the house she had funded left incomplete, her savings spent, and no income to fall back on.
Barbara, a 39-year-old mother originally from Mbale, decided to leave home in 2020 after 16 years of marriage, driven by the need to provide for her children when her household situation became untenable.
She secured a domestic work arrangement in Dubai through a friend’s connection, expecting to care for a family of two people at a salary of 1.2 million Ugandan shillings.
What Went Wrong in Dubai
When Barbara arrived, she found herself working for a household of ten. Her employer promised to raise her pay to 1.5 million shillings once a departing staff member left, but that agreement was never honoured.
After months of patience and repeated appeals, Barbara asked either for the promised increase or for her passport back so she could leave. Her employer refused both and threatened deportation.
Barbara eventually left the house without her passport and sought help at immigration offices and a labour institution, spending her savings on transport as the process dragged on.
She remained in Dubai without legal documentation, surviving on informal part-time jobs before starting a small food business in 2022, selling chapatis and samosas to fellow Ugandans. The income allowed her to buy land back home and begin construction.
But years of overwork took a toll. By early 2024, her body gave out entirely, and her brothers urged her to return while she was still alive rather than risk dying abroad. She flew back to Uganda in March 2024 with little money remaining
Coming Home to a Smaller Dream
The house Barbara had funded, built by a friend she trusted, did not match the specifications she had given. Rooms were significantly smaller than instructed, a planned kitchen had been converted into a bathroom-store hybrid, and the structure remained unroofed. She estimated spending around 10 million Ugandan shillings on the construction.
Since returning, Barbara has been raising her five children, aged between five and 21, largely alone. Her ex-husband, who she says has since remarried, reportedly rented accommodation for the children and then stopped paying, leaving them without support until Barbara stepped in.
Two sons are enrolled in technical school, and a daughter in Senior 4 hopes to study law, though school fees remain unpaid. Barbara attempted mushroom farming on the plot but found water too expensive and scarce to sustain a harvest.
YouTuber Lin Zabu, who filmed the interview and shared it on the channel, suggested the community rally to roof at least one section of the house so Barbara and her children could stop renting.
