Upon arriving in the United States, Kapalaga was filled with hope and excitement. His first job involved selling tea, which he found rewarding at the time.“I was getting $12, and I was so excited. I even called my mom and told her I was about to become very rich,” he shared. Kapalaga noted that he was earning more money in a week than what he had been receiving during his time at Radio Simba, which initially gave him a sense of success.
However, this excitement was short-lived. As bills began to pile up, Kapalaga quickly realized that surviving in the US required working multiple jobs.
Restaurant job
His next job was working as a busboy in a popular cheesecake restaurant, where he was responsible for clearing plates and serving customers.
Unfortunately, his time at the restaurant was cut short due to unexpected pressure from Ugandans living in the area. Kapalaga explained that some Ugandan customers recognized him while he was working and began scrutinizing him.
“As I moved the plates around, I noticed they were looking at me closely, trying to figure out if I was indeed the face they recognized,” he revealed.
As soon as they identified him, some of the patrons began taking pictures of him while he worked, much to his discomfort.“They would start pulling out their phones to take my pictures, and I would evade them. That is how I decided to leave that job,” Kapalaga recalled.
The pressure of being recognized and treated differently because of his past celebrity status made him quit the restaurant job.
Following this, Kapalaga took on a job at a factory, which turned out to be the most physically demanding work he had ever done.
“Doing hard work for 12 hours a day. It was tough,” he admitted, noting that the long hours and intensity of the job left him exhausted.
After leaving the factory, Kapalaga found work at a retirement home, where he took care of elderly residents. However, this job also came with its own set of challenges. One particularly difficult moment occurred when he was helping an elderly man to the toilet. They both fell, and Kapalaga suffered a serious back injury. “I even fell sick because one time I was trying to help an old man to a toilet seat, and we fell. I suffered a broken back,” he said.Despite the hardships, Kapalaga remains determined to push through and make a better life for himself in the US.
His work now entails traveling around the country educating people about Finance, among others.