A 27-year-old woman has built a spacious home after spending six years working as a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia, a journey marked by difficult employers, multiple job changes, and an eventual voluntary deportation.
Speaking to Lynn Zaambu’s World YouTube Channel, Agnes, a mother of one, gave viewers a tour of her newly completed house and recounted the hardships she endured abroad.
Agnes’s Six Years in Saudi Arabia
Agnes left home in November 2019 through a recruitment company. After two years with her first employer, whom she described as demanding, she escaped and began moving independently between households.
Over the following years, she changed employers multiple times, staying between three weeks and five months at each before leaving due to difficult working conditions.
“The people who live in the house were not easy. I want to work but there is not easy,” she said, explaining her repeated departures.
She eventually secured a stable position with an employer she referred to as Hannah, where she remained for three years and three months. After that contract ended, rather than seek another placement, Agnes handed herself in to Saudi police and requested deportation.
She spent one night at a police station, where officers confiscated her phone, before being transferred to a deportation centre for one week.
She was then flown back home at no personal cost.
“I packed my things, and I went to the police. Then the police took me to the deportation,” she said.
Building a Home From Abroad
During her first two years in Saudi Arabia, Agnes directed her earnings towards her family, covering school fees for two siblings. After escaping her first employer, she began saving the remainder of her wages directly on her mobile money account, which she controlled personally without routing funds through a third party.
She purchased land in 2022 through a contact she found on YouTube and contracted a builder named Mr Dongu of Focus Construction to handle the project from the foundation through to the roof, windows and doors. Construction began in May 2023.
She managed subsequent phases, including plastering and tiling, by coordinating with different contractors remotely.
The main challenge, she said, was not knowing whether costs quoted to her were accurate since she could not verify progress in person.
Agnes returned four months ago and spent her first night in the completed house. She has since started a small business selling children’s clothing and is seeking capital to expand her stock.
She said she has no plans to return to Saudi Arabia or any other Gulf country.
“I want to struggle here in Uganda,” she said.
Watch the full tour and Agnes’s story in her own words below:
