How persistence turned ambition to reality

In contrast to most young people his age, Chris had other goals other than completing high school and enrolling in university. As soon as he finished high school, he wanted to move abroad and achieve success. He made his dream a reality despite opposition from his aunt, his sole caregiver, but one wrong decision threw everything into turmoil.

Chris is a 23-year-old Ugandan whose ambition brought him to Dubai. He always dreamt of finishing school and moving abroad to earn more money to support his aunt. She had been taking care of him and his young sister ever since they lost their parents at the ages of 6 and 2. For him, completing school meant finishing high school. He didn’t see the point of being a university graduate only to end up without a job or capital to start an income-generating venture, and still end up moving to the Middle East and getting employed in non-graduate jobs.

“What a waste of time and money. It’s better to use part of the tuition money to cover travel costs to greener pastures,” he always said. However, he was worried about how his aunt would take this. She wanted him to be a graduate to fulfil the promise she gave her late brother. She had promised to take care of and pay for the education of his two children until they graduated.

Despite this, a part of him believed that if he sat down and explained his “smart plan” to her, she would understand and allow the young bird to fly. As soon as he finished secondary school, he did just that. Unfortunately, he failed to convince her. Her immediate and final answer was a resounding “no”. He was disappointed by the fact that his aunt failed to trust him with his future. He decided to get a job around Kampala and spend his s.6 vacation earning and saving for independence.

The escape

When he had saved enough, he knew there was no turning back. He processed his travel documents in secret because he didn’t want anyone to stop him. On the day of travelling, he escaped home and only informed his family about what he had done when he landed at the airport in Dubai. Everyone at home was in shock but he chose not to focus on that. His friend with whom they had been in communication picked him up and that’s how his Dubai journey started.

He was so excited about the new development in his life. It was clear from the way the city looked that he had made the wisest decision of his life. He didn’t even notice the congestion in the bed space. All that mattered to him was to start the job search right away and prove to his aunt and sister that he had made the right decision. Unlike me who dedicated my first week in Dubai to touring the city, Chris started job searching on his first day.

He learnt about some of his housemates who had been looking for jobs for more than one year, which worried him. While thoughts of the same happening to him swirled in his mind, he chose to ignore them and stay positive. Some of them had gotten a job within their first month, and they were getting high salaries. He had faith that he would be like the latter.

There was no day he did not wake up to apply somewhere or turn up for a walk-in interview. He would hear someone in the bed space celebrating having landed a job which motivated him as he knew his day was coming. Some had come after him and had already been employed. This is because the available ones, cleaning jobs, offered 1000 Dirhams only, yet he wanted one that paid at least 3000. Two weeks before the expiration of his visa, he decided to stop being selective and settle for what was available to avoid overstaying.

Dream job

Besides, it was better than being jobless or spending three years studying at a university back home. This was because he would end up coming here and applying for the same job after failing to get a job with his qualifications. So, he signed a two-year contract with the company handling his employment visa and accommodation. Ironically, he started getting job offers with the kind of salary he wanted after he started, but he opted not to turn back. Either way, according to Dubai Labour laws, you cannot resign from a job within the first six months of your service.

He couldn’t wait to get his first salary and prove to his family that he was doing just fine and they had nothing to worry about. When he got his first salary, he sent it to his aunt to please her but she sent it back because she was still angry. He consoled himself knowing that with time she would forgive him. Everything was moving along well, and he was proud of himself for being able to save money every month though he still wanted to save more. Every day he would see job ads that offered more, which made him more eager to finish his probation sooner.

As fate would have it, a great job offer from a company he had wanted and had applied to came. This was when he took the risk of leaving a job before the recommended time. He had hoped to negotiate with his bosses to reimburse them part of the 8000 Dirhams they had used to process his employment visa after he got paid at his new job. By then, he had only worked there for three months. Thanks to this decision, things took a turn for the worse.

In the second installment, we will get to see how a wrong move by Chris came back to haunt him leading to a job loss and on the verge of being deported.