Barber builds a house out of willpower

May 27, 2013

Willy Kitamirike is 22 years but has a house of his own. He is a barber in Matugga trading Centre Wakiso district. He studied up to O-level.

By Umar Nsubuga

At 22-years Willy Kitamirike built his house bit by bit...

Willy Kitamirike is 22 years but has a house of his own. He is a barber in Matugga trading Centre Wakiso district. He studied up to O-level.

After this level his mother did not have money to continue paying his fees. “My life was going through challenges, yet my mother was not rich. With all these challenges I started praying to God to make a way for me”, Kitamirike says.

When Kitamirike knew that he was not going to continue with education, he started laying bricks and selling them. He did this for four years.

“After selling bricks for four years a friend advised me to set up a salon and I agreed. He started training me and I leant very fast, I knew that if I took on this job I could survive,” he says.

Setting up a salon was a big challenge for him because he had to pay rent and had no steady income to support his daily lifestyle. But because of his good behaviour and good customer care were he was training he made many friends who later contributed much when he was setting up his own salon.
 

Kitamirike in his salon

After six months of working in his salon his landlord challenged him to buy a plot. At that time he had many debts and when his landlord told him to buy a plot; he thought it was a joke.

How I raised the money

When I finished setting up my salon, I opened an account. I was earning little money, but I had to save sh70,000 every week on my account. Although my landlord was encouraging me I knew that I couldn’t afford to buy a plot at the time.

However, because of pressure from my landlord I started working towards buying the plot. Whenever I would return home after work he would ask me about the plot. After saving sh1m, my landlord told me he would top up for me, this encouraged me to work harder. My landlord took me to someone who was selling his plot at sh3m.

The owner agreed to sell it to me at sh2.5m, and my landlord lent me sh500,000 and the balance was sh1m. I worked hard and paid the balance in three months.

When I got the land I was happy. My friends told me I needed a plan for the house, but I ignored their advise, closed my eyes and decided to look to God. I built the house bit by bit.

Materials


After paying my landlord and the balance on the plot, I started to buy building materials. I first bought 5,000 bricks each at sh110, two small trucks of sand and a truck of stones.

I also borrowed a wheelbarrow, spades and 20 bags of cement. Each bag of cement cost sh29,000, but I was buying one by one.

Construction


I copied the design from some of the houses I see in Matugga. I have friends who are builders so we did our measurements on site. I hired two builders and one porter whom I worked with.

You can also send views and comments on this story at homes@newvision.co.ug

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