Kebba’s long journey of constructing her home

Anna Kebba’s dream was to sleep in a storeyed home with a bedroom upstairs. Naturally, she likes the idea of living in a storeyed home, which was inspired from a young age when her family lived in Bugolobi flats in Kampala.

“It was fun seeing things from above and the views were a plus so it motivated me more,” she recounts. It is something she held onto and knew she had to work hard towards achieving.

In 2002, she got her first job and from her first salary of Shs250,000, she could only save Shs50, 000 per month.  “If I did any extra work for some clients then I could save an additional Shs50, 000 to Shs100, 000. By the end of the year 2002, I had saved Shs1, 500, 000,” she explains.

Kebba is an underwriting manager with one of the insurance companies in Kampala. She bought her first plot of land in Mukono, near Uganda Christian University (UCU) in 2010 at a price of Shs9m but sold it off in 2012 at Shs13m because it was a distant location.

“In 2004, I joined another company with better pay and I was able to save Sh300, 000 per month for about five years. I used some of the money to buy the plot of Shs9m with the savings from that job. With the rest of the money, I made some investments in produce and farming,” she further explains.

She also bought another plot in Kyaggwe Mukono at Shs10m but because of the location too and the delayed road  works, she decided to search for another plot.

She still has the plot in Kyaggwe.

“This was very hectic because brokers would take me to so many places and I would not find any appealing. After a long tiresome search, one broker took me to a plot in Buwate and I immediately knew that was mine.  I went to the real estate agency and was told it cost Shs35m,” she recalls.

At that moment, she did not have the full amount of money. She made a deposit of Shs10m which the agency accepted on condition that she would pay the remaining amount of Shs25m in instalments.

She says God’s Grace allowed them to be patient with her. She was able to complete the payment in 2013.

“I was able to complete payment in 2013 because of the discipline of saving for my dream as well as investments I had made. At that time, I was saving between Shs1m and Shs2m per month religiously depending on how money was coming in. Remember, real estate owners don’t give you the luxury to stretch payments for too long so I had to find whatever ways to pay that money or lose the land,” she shares.

She planned on beginning to construct her dream home the following year.

She set out to get quotes from different builders. At the time, she had Shs10m to kickstart the construction. Many of the builders she contacted told her that the amount of money was not enough to get her started on the kind of house she had in mind and on plan.

Kebba shelved the idea for a while and concentrated on her side business. She was involved in farming ventures. She was into poultry, then general merchandise, buying and selling produce which occasionally earned her a return on investment as a means to supplement her salary.

That also did not get her far because she was absent from the business, and as such, the person she employed, took advantage to fleece her. Instead of building one residential unit, she decided to include rental apartments.

“In the process of planning, I got so many suggestions on what the structure should be like. I knew what I wanted and went with my plan while modifying a few things that made sense and would fit into my budget,” the insurance underwriter narrates.

By October 2015, she had moved to a third company where she was earning better and her salary plus investments could allow her to save up to Shs4m per month.

She adds that she did not rely on one kind of business to bring in money but explored different opportunities which paid off. “I also had two investment saving schemes which yielded returns in three years’ time and that was a push for the second phase of construction onwards ,” she reveals.

The engineer she contracted started asking her to buy so many things which were necessary but they had not initially quoted. When she asked him why he was introducing new items in the budget, he laughed and told her that he did not want her to give up. She was going it alone and occasionally heard people say that she would not manage to complete it. The doubters became a source of inspiration because she wanted to disprove them.

This was an investment not only for her but also her children so they could have a home and something to start them off in future. Kebba always tried to look confident in everything she did or discussed with anyone.

Some thought she was a ‘pro’ at what she did. To her, it took a lot of research from different people to finally understand construction. She was so green when she set out.

All she dreamt about was having a storeyed building and apartments in which she could live and also earn a  living. She was young too and she recalls people who wanted to steal from her or sell her substandard materials with the perception that she was naïve.

She was always alert. “One day I went to the depot to buy bricks and the men there plotted to, ‘give her the weak ones because she is a woman and won’t know’.  “I turned to one and told him that I was not naive as they thought and pointed to what I wanted. They were amazed and said ‘madam, from today we won’t cheat you’ . That is how they became my good suppliers,” she further narrates.

The hiccups

On the night when she bought the bricks, the driver of the truck attempted to return in the night to steal the delivery he had made. Thank God, Kebba had alerted the neighbour’s watchman to look out for her.

When the truck thief returned, the watchman questioned him and asked that he first calls her in order to confirm that she had authorised the truck driver to return and collect the bricks.

The truck driver hastily drove off.  The first phase of construction was complete in January 2016.

“That is when the money run out so I could not continue. I sought quotes for the second phase. They were alarming so I took a break and left the building site, knowing I would never complete . I even considered selling it off,”  she recalls.

She prayed to God, in tears asking why he would let her begin the project only to fail. God answered her prayers. She got a better job in addition to some side income.

“I asked God to always provide finances so I could complete the project in 2020 or before”, says Kebba. In November 2017, she inquired about hiring casual workers that she could pay daily.

“The rates were lower than paying an engineer so my hope was restored. I did all calculations and made plans to begin again from the savings I had, which completed a substantial amount of work,” she further recounts.

She had saved another Shs50m. Thank God, she had found a new job at Transafrica Assurance as an underwriting manager. With the new job, came an improvement in her earnings.

She has since found job placements in two other companies. Each has come with a better salary and this only made her savings better. Plus, she learned the lesson of always making sure she was at the construction site as often as she could in order to monitor the work being done.

The people who were working and serving at the construction site got to respect her for her diligence, knowing that they could not cheat her as she kept tabs on every expense and procurement made.

After roofing, she went out to find the cheapest option. At that point, progress had started slowing down since money was not coming through as Kebba had wanted.

At times, she would skip a month, two or three because she did not have money. She had no one to turn to for help and yet she had to cater for her children’s tuition and upkeep on top of other responsibilities.

It takes sacrifice

“Oh, those were tough times. I had to forego so many luxuries just to save for construction. Good enough, my suppliers had come to trust me that they would supply on credit and I would always make good on my payments. When things slowed down, they told me not to worry. Some would wait on me until I got the money to pay them. Favour was upon me that little by little I would add on something small and before the start of every phase, I would always pray for money so I complete and not do things halfway,” she narrates.

She adds, “Although many times it would seem like there was no hope, God answered my prayers. At some point I would inject money into a phase and it felt like nothing was done. This took a toll on me, especially with children’s requirements increasing daily.”

In August last year, she decided to move into the unfinished house so that she could monitor it even better since people were now becoming dishonest and it became easier to manage. It was scary living in an unfinished place but she held onto the hope that only God protects and had the best feeling of content, calm and peace knowing that she was in her own place.

“The men in my neighbourhood were very nice to me. They would always extend a helping hand when I requested for something, be it recommendations or some work at the site. Slowly and painfully, I completed everything in December 2020 as I had prayed,” she says. The whole construction process taught her to never give up on her desire and to do everything possible to achieve success. Today, she celebrates a journey accomplished and thanks God for abundant favour.

Hiccups

On the night Kebba bought her bricks, the driver of the truck attempted to return in the night to steal the delivery he had made. Thank God, she had alerted the neighbour’s watchman to look out for her.

When the truck thief returned, the watchman questioned him and asked that he first calls her in order to confirm that she had authorised him to return and collect the bricks.

The truck driver hastily drove off.