In late July of 2023, Joy*, 24, arrived in Nairobi from Kampala, Uganda, at the invitation of her childhood friend, Sarah*. It was her first time in Kenya, as well as her first time to leave Uganda. She had travelled with one bag to stay light on her feet, and to make herself as unintrusive as possible at her friend’s humble home in Kibera. Sarah picked her up from the bus station and they made their way across town to the room she shared with another domestic worker. Joy would sleep on a makeshift bed and contribute to the household for the next few months until she could afford her own place.
Within a few weeks, with Sarah’s help, she found work in a Nairobi home in Lang’ata, and she was soon sending her first salary back home to her mother and child. “I came to provide for my daughter,” she said, her voice both firm and hopeful. “Now I pay her school fees and save a little. I feel like I’m building a future.”
Joy’s story mirrors that of thousands of Ugandan women who have quietly crossed into Kenya seeking domestic work. Their labor sustains urban Kenyan households across the major Kenyan cities, Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu. Yet despite its significance, this social and economic exchange rarely registers in official statistics.
A 2023 estimate by the International Labour Organization (ILO) places Kenya’s domestic workforce at nearly 2 million, and though nationality is rarely captured in public data sources, research suggests that many of these workers are migrants, driven by Kenya’s higher wages and regional ease of movement.
Uganda’s youth unemployment rate for those aged 18 to 30 officially stands at 16.1% percent according to the 2024 Census by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, but underemployment and informal sector work significantly inflate that figure, with women disproportionately affected.
With Kenyans paying between 10,000 and 20,000 Kenyan shillings (roughly USD 75 to 150) per month for domestic workers in comparison to Kampala where the same jobs might pay under 200,000 Ugandan shillings (USD 50), the financial pull to Kenya for young women like Joy, is tangible. These figures are based on current Minimum Wage standards, and may shift depending on employer, but even so, the difference is noticeable.
Ugandan labour abroad surged remittance inflows to a record USD 1.42 billion by January 2024 an increase of 13.4 percent. The 2023 World Bank report highlights Uganda’s diverse migration patterns, and although about 75% of remittances to Uganda come largely from overseas workers, analysts say intra-EAC migration is making noticeable contributions, with Kenya accounting for USD 100 million (7%), highlighting the growing role of intra-regional migration.
Joy shares Kenya has become her second home. “People understand me, and I understand them. Kenyans are very welcoming,” she says.
Her friend Sarah has lived in Nairobi for five years. The first year was grueling. She recalls being dismissed without notice, losing days of pay, and working casually for multiple families until she found stability. “But the money was better than back home,” she explains. “I have two children in Uganda, and this is how I support them.”
Employers, too, acknowledge the contribution. Sheila, a Nairobi businesswoman and widow, has employed multiple Ugandan women over the years. “They are hardworking and honest,” she says. “I like Ugandans because I went to school in Uganda. I also admire Joy as a single mother, we share the same struggle.”
Unlike migration to the Gulf, where contracts and agencies dominate, intra-African migration remains accessible and socially safer.Ugandan women in Kenya often find jobs through personal networks or informal agents. Written contracts are rare.
Kenya has not yet ratified ILO Convention 189, which guarantees domestic workers contracts , minimum wages, and rest periods, though advocacy groups are pressing for adoption. Organizations like the National Domestic Workers Council (under KUDHEIHA) are campaigning for stronger protections.Still, many Ugandan workers see Kenya as safer than the Middle East. The cultural similarities, porous borders, and supportive networks soften the risks.
The stories of Joy and Sarah highlight a bigger truth, migration within East Africa is less about desperation than strategy. Joy is saving with a local women’s savings group, aiming to open a tailoring shop back in Kampala within five years.
Sarah, once in precarious jobs, now enjoys permanent employment and steady remittances for her children.
For Sheila, employing Ugandan workers is not just practical but personal, a bond of shared womanhood and resilience.
As remittances rise and Ugandan women invest earnings into schools, farms, and small businesses, the ripple effects reach across borders.
Despite their central role, migrant domestic workers remain invisible in policy. Uganda and Kenya’s labor ministries are attempting to track migration flows, but there is still no bilateral agreement covering care and domestic work Human rights groups argue that simplified guest worker permits and regional sector-wide regulation could protect women while boosting economies..
“The remittance economy is already reshaping Uganda,” says a policy advocate. “If governments recognize migrant domestic workers not as invisible labor, but as regional builders, the gains could be multiplied.”
For now, Joy focuses on the present, working, saving, and sending money home. “I’m not stuck here forever,” she says with a smile. “Kenya gave me the means to build something at home.”
Her story, and those of countless other Ugandan women, show that cross-border domestic work is not just survival. It is a calculated path to dignity, resilience, and opportunity.
In every Nairobi household they sustain, and in every Ugandan family they support from afar, these women are not only workers. They are bridge-builders of East Africa’s shared future.
*Some names have been changed to protect the privacy of those interviewed.
