Kinula's kind heart built her a house in eight months

By Esther Namirimu

Alice Kinula built a three bed roomed house in a period of just eight months. Each bedroom in her house is self contained. The house also has a dining room, sitting room and kitchen. She always dreamt of the day she would sleep in her own house without worry of the landlord knocking at her door. Now she is living her dream.

Source of income

I am a businesswoman dealing in tourism; I take tourists around East Africa. One time I received a tourist from Switzerland and I treated her very well. She pretended not to have enough money on her, so I decided to accommodate her in my rented home.

I told her that we would use the money she had to tour the nearby places in Uganda that included the source of the Nile, Bujagali falls, Busoga cultural sites like Budhumbula palace and Mausoleum. We used public transport most of the time as we visited these places.

In other words I housed her and also fed her, yet it was our first time to meet. Helga could not believe that instead of begging from her, I made her life easy and enjoyable while in Uganda. You know most people abroad have this impression that we are only good at begging.

When Helga was leaving she left an envelope under the pillow on my bed. The envelope had a letter with $4500. In the letter she said, she was grateful for my hospitality and wanted me to use this money to compensate for the time I had spent with her.

It was the first time I held so much money in dollars, God had answered my prayers. I could finally buy this piece of land that I had always wanted and also remain with a balance to add into my business. After buying land in Buikwe, near Jinja Town at sh9m. I decided to inter-crop maize and beans since I did not have money to start building right away.

Just when I was harvesting, I received a call from Helga telling me that she was coming back with her family and friends; a group of 10 people and this time, they were going to pay and sleep in a hotel. I could not believe that Helga was a rich woman with a big family. She asked me to still accommodate her in my home.  After their stay in Uganda, they paid me about sh13m. Together with the money from my maize and bean harvest, I decided to start building
my house.

Construction project

Since I had enough money to start and also sustain most of the construction; my architect had approximated for me an amount of money needed to build up to ring beam level. I decided to pay for some construction materials like cement. I bought 100 bags each at sh30,000 in Jinja Town. I paid for the bricks bought spades, wheelbarrows, water tanks, nails and wood. Three kilogrammes of nails, each cost sh7,400, a wheelbarrow at sh45,000, three spades at sh15,000 each, a water tank at sh600,000.

Each trip of 2,000 bricks cost me sh350,000 and each trip of sand was at sh170,000. I really bargained with the guys who transported the materials. I paid some village youths to fetch water at sh100 per jerrycan. I met a construction foreman and we agreed that I pay him and his team sh2.5m for the construction work from foundation to wall plate.

Since my house has a rare plan, it is like a fort; its walls are strong enough to be a wall fence as well. I copied this plan from a Spanish magazine. I am building a three storeyed house, but I am first relaxing seeing that the first floor is complete. The ceiling cost me about sh6m. If you are planning to build, you should consider transportation of materials as a very big requirement.

I had to rent a place to keep the materials. The builders found the work easy because, I had bought everything they needed to make their work easy. To get the best results, I was advised to feed them well by preparing the meals for them; that way they would spend less time off work. And also be at the site all the time to avoid problems like theft of my building materials.

We are not going to put any particular roof right now, it is a slab for the first floor since I am building a flat. I started last year as tenant, but ended it as a landlord that is what I call a miracle from God. I spent sh3m on lights and chandeliers.

In March of this year, we got connected to tap water and electricity, although we use solar most of the time to cut on the bills. We also harvest water in a water tank whenever it rains so we save on water bills. The construction started in April 2012 and we are still going on with the compound design and exterior view of the house because the money got finished before the whole work could be done. However, the interior is completely finished and my son and I are living comfortably.

Motivation

All my siblings already had homes apart from me, so this motivated me to work hard and complete my house instead of buying a car. You can buy a car and tomorrow it gets an accident, you will have wasted all your money and yet with a house its value appreciates everyday. Without your own home, you cannot live a contended life.

Next five years

In the next five years I hope to have built apartments for my tourist friends. I know the Government is boosting the tourism industry. I  open to reap big from the sector.