16 August 2023 – Kampala, Uganda. Hajjara Nampaji 34, fits back a car air filter after cleaning it. Nampaji transformed from a nurse to a mechanic through Re:BUiLD’s apprenticeship program. Re:BUiLD enrolled over 600 clients to gain hands-on skills to access decent employment opportunities since 2020. (PHOTO: Nathan Ijjo Tibaku/TheIRC)

As you get into the motor servicing centre at the bustling Hass gas station in Busega, a suburb southwest of Kampala's central business district, you receive a rare reception. It is not what most motorists in Uganda are accustomed to.

“The women you will find working in such a place are mostly pump operators,” a grinning Hajjara Nampaji, divulges as she walks past a fuel delivery tanker like a formidable and determined lady in her mechanic armour.

"I enjoy every aspect of my work as a mechanic. I have always desired to do the seemingly impossible. I have had an attraction to car engines since I was a little girl but while growing up people claimed that women can't accomplish anything in this field. I loved engines,” she says.

16 August 2023 – Kampala, Uganda. Hajjara Nampaji 34, performing maintenance on the transfer case. Nampaji transformed from a nurse to a mechanic through Re:BUiLD’s apprenticeship program. Re:BUiLD enrolled over 600 clients to gain hands-on skills to access decent employment opportunities since 2020. (PHOTO: Nathan Ijjo Tibaku/TheIRC)

The 34-year-old says she does not regret having dropped her nursing career to pursue her passion. She only wanted mechanics. Unlike being on a career she had not chosen, she says, working on car engines has made her feel important and powerful as a woman.

She says: "My father wanted me to be a nurse. After two years at nursing school, I graduated and started working. My father had selected this career for me. I had to do it, but this could not get me the happiness I needed but now I am where I always wanted to be.”

Nampaji’s automotives dream

The cubbing vehicle mechanic attended nursing school and worked as a midwife for three years before switching gears. She is now getting closer to her dream.

Nampaji declares, “I want to run my own garage. I know I can. I will utilize it to train and dispel dread from the hearts of young ladies. If I can do this from the basics of wheel alignment, getting into that engine room, to engine overhauling, it means any girl can also do it. I am proud. Everyone gets surprised when they see me on the job as a mother and a Muslim woman.”

16 August 2023 – Kampala, Uganda. Hajjara Nampaji 34, cleaning the dashboard. (PHOTO: Nathan Ijjo Tibaku/TheIRC)

She was among the refugees and host community members who the Re:BUiLD Program supported with job placements and apprenticeships in Kampala. Employers like her manager, Hood Mukasa are engaged in this process to provide apprenticeship possibilities for skilled refugees and hosts, producing evidence and lessons that show what is effective and developing a model that can be duplicated in other locations.

“We want to offer more opportunities. We have learned that women are truly trustworthy and Nampaji has proven this. Each of the services we offer here require specialists. Her work has shown that women can also specialize and earn decent incomes from fields that are traditionally male. We only need to create an ideal environment for them to thrive,” stated Mukasa told Re:BUiLD in Action.