My name is Ndagire Joan and I am a graduate of Uganda Christian University, it was always been my wish to complete studies and get a job immediately without passing through challenges. This has been impossible for me ever since I graduated. It is now ten months since graduation and no job yet.
It has been a hassle to look for jobs. Since people, especially men, know that as ladies we can be desperate for jobs, they use that opportunity to sleep with girls in exchange for jobs. I got that challenge where a man wanted me to fall in love with him just for a job. I didn’t do it because I had the fear for God within and I respect my body as well.
Here in Uganda, it is difficult to get a job in an office where no one knows you, it takes the grace of God to get it. That is why big people in some offices use that opportunity to sleep with girls for them to be given jobs from their offices. This has reduced some of the ladies’ dignity since no respect for them when people find out what they do to get a job.
What I’m doing now
I have a Rolex and Chapati business called Rolex Palace. Rolex is a popular food item in Uganda that combines an egg omelette and veggies wrapped in a chapati. The idea came when I was still at campus (university). Here in Uganda, jobs are not easy to get so I was just hoping God would bless me with some capital so I could start up a small business.
Before starting it, I consulted people who are making chapati because a lot of them were doing it around campus. I had fears because the Rolex and Chapati business is mostly done by men, so I was wondering how I was going to start it and how that would look.
At first, I thought that I would hire a man to do the selling for me. I didn’t know how I was going to pay the person who was going to work with me. And also paying for the rent because there are many people in that business. I needed to be able to trust the person I was working with. I conclude that the guy who was working for me is honest because I tried many times to test him and I found out that he is God-given.
The challenges are that I didn’t have enough capital. I needed another table and another tent for shelter from the rain.
What I learnt about myself is that I am brave. I don’t get ashamed of setting up a business. Many people who are educated or have a degree, it’s very rare to find graduates making some kind of business as small as mine. They think that they’re educated and so they cannot do such strange things. I trust in myself and I don’t care what other people will say, so long as I know that I’m benefiting somehow. People undermine some of the work forgetting that sometimes when you employ yourself, it is better. So I learned about myself is that whatever I do I don’t mind what other people say, so long as I’m not doing something wrong.
I can say my business is doing fair because schools are still closed. I’m hoping to get more money when students come back to school.
I know it is hard to overcome job challenges especially men sleeping with ladies in exchange for jobs, but what I know is that when we pray to our God in heaven, and obey his commands, He will be able to give us all our heart’s desires because He has a good plan for us. It does not need me to sleep with a man to get a job. Rather, I kneel on my knees and pray until God answers my prayers. God is never too late to answer our prayers. Jeremiah 29;11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
