Mondo's volunteers in Uganda: Eelmise nädala esimene pool. / First half of the week.

Eelmise nädala esimeses pooles käisime Siisiga jälle erinevaid tänavaid mööda ja otsisime naiste projekti jaoks sobivat kohta. Saime mõned kontaktid, kuid mitte ühtegi päris sobivat kohta ei leidnud. Poeruumide puhul on pidevalt vaja otsida tasakaalu hinna ja asukoha vahel - käidavamas ja paremini ligipääsetavas kohas on üürihind kõrgem, kuid seejures on ehk kliente ja käivet rohkem. Samas on tegu naiste esimese iseseisva ettevõtmisega ning seepärast ei tundu mõistlik liigset riski võtta. Siiani külastatud kohtade puhul on üürihinnad enamasti vahemikus 300 000 - 500 000 šillingit/kuu.

Ringi jalutamine ja linna avastamine on mind Kampalaga palju rohkem tuttavaks teinud ning see rõõmustab. Julgen rohkem boda-juhtidega kaubelda, sest tean kui kaugel mingi linnaosa on ja kui palju raha sinna sõitmise eest maksta võiks. Muidugi alustavad nad alati kõrgema hinnaga ja üritavad kesklinna puhul seletada, et on palju ummikuid jne, kuid ebanormaalselt kõrge hinna puhul vaatan mõnikord lihtsalt neile otsa ja ütlen: "Olimba, ssebo." (Sa valetad, härra). See ei kõla ehk eriti sõbralikult, kuid selle peale tavaliselt naerdakse ja öeldakse, et ei valeta midagi, kuid pakutakse juba natuke madalamat hinda.

Teise olulise asjana lasin füüsilise erivajadusega naiste projekti jaoks flaiereid printida. A7 suurusega flaierid disainis samuti vabatahtlikuna Ugandas käinud Aliine Lotman (suur aitäh!) ning nende printimine oli omaette tore kogemus. Kampalas on üks tänav, kuhu on kokku kogunenud õik trükikojad, graafilise disaini stuudiod ja kontoritarvete poed – Nasser Road. Olin eelnevalt uurinud, kus varem flaiereid prinditud on ning leidsin üsna kiiresti tänaval sildi Media Focus. Sammusin trepist üles, kus leti taga istuv mees mulle teatas, et Gina (kõrval arvutilaua taga toimetav naine) aitab mind kohe ja võttis USB-pulga, et failid arvutisse ümber tõsta. Seejärel pidi natuke aega ootama kuni Ginal minu jaoks aega tekkis. Paari liigutusega paigutas ta flaierid õigesti A4 lehe peale, lasi kõige pealt proovilehe välja printida, et kontrollida, kas mõlemad pooled on kohakuti. Kuna hetkel veel ei tea, kus uus pood asuma hakkab, siis printisin ainult mõned flaierid: 7 lehte, igaühel 8 flaierit, hind kokku 5600. Natuke kummaline oli see, et küljendus tehti ühes kohas, kuid printimas käis Gina kuskil 2 tuba edasi, kuid tähtis, et tehtud sai. Veel oli vaja flaierid õigesse suurusesse lõigata. Selleks suundusin kaks korrust allapoole, kus suurtes ruumides undasid trükimasinad, koridor oli lõigatud paberi tükke täis ja ttöölised usinasti valmis trükiseid pakkidena ringi kandsid. Õige inimese leidmine käis nagu ikka – küsi ja sind juhatatakse kohe ühe tuttava juurde, kes just sinu jaoks vajalikku teenust osutab. Nõnda maksin 2000 šillingit ning minu 7 paberilehte lõigati hiiglasliku elektrilise paberigiljotiiniga õigesse suurusesse.

Reedel käisin veel korra samas kohas Bluesky kooli jaoks infolehti trükkimas ning siis oli kõik juba kärmem ja lihtsam. Seekord polnud Ginal aega ja ta juhatas mind kohe paar poekest edasi kohta, kus eelmine kord lehed välja prinditi ning sealne töötaja küljendas ja sättis paika ja printis vajaliku arvu lehti välja. Lõikamiseks leidsin mulle tuttava mehe juba ise üles.

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In the first part of last week me and Siisi walked once again on the streets of Kampala looking for a suitable place for the women's project. We got some contacts but could not find a perfectly matching and sitable place. When searching for the right spot we always need to think of a good balance between the price and location – the rent is of course higher in a location that receives more pedestrian traffic but at the same time this could also mean more clients and income. On the other hand it is the first time for the women to try to sell their products independently and thus, it seems unreasonable to risk too much. The places we have seen so far have mostly had the monthly rent between 300 000 and 500 000 shillings.

Walking around and discovering Kampala has made the city a lot more familiar to me and this makes me glad. I have more courage to bargain with the boda-drivers because I know how far some certain parts of town are and how much money would be a fair price for the ride. They always start with a higher price and try to tell me that there are many traffic jams etc but if the price is really unreasonably high then sometimes I look the driver in the eye and just say „Olimba, ssebo.” (You lie, Mister). That might sound not too friendly but usually it gets a laughing response and the driver says that he is telling the truth but then still gives lower price.

Another thing I managed was to print some flyers for the women's project. The A7-sized flyers are designed by Aliine Lotman who has also volunteered in Uganda (thank you!) and getting them printed was an interesting experience. There is a street in Kampala that contains all kinds of print shops, graphic design studios, and stationery shops. I had done my research about where the volunteers have been printing flyers in previous years and found the sign Media Focus quite quickly. I took the stairs up into the shop and the man at the counter told me that Gina (woman sitting at a desk nearby) will help me out soon and then he took the USB-stick in order to download the files. Then I needed to wait a bit until Gina found time for me or just stopped doing whatever she was busy doing at the computer. With just a few movements she placed the flyers suitably onto an A4 and printed out a sample for checking the layout. As we do not know yet where the new shop will be located, then I just printed out a few flyers: 7 pages with 8 flyers each, cost 5600. It was interesting that the layout was done in one shop but for printing Gina rushed somewhere 2 rooms further but it really doesn't matter, it got done and very nicely.

Next step was to cut the flyers into the correct size. For that I went two floors down the stairs and found myself in a space filled with noise from printing machines, pieces of paper everywhere on the floor, and workers ready for carrying freshly printed piles of paper where-ever needed. Finding the right person for the job went as usual – ask and you will be guided to some acquaintance who provides the exact service that you need.So I paid 2000 shillings and the 7 papers were cut with a huge electric guillotine into the perfectly fitting size.

On Friday I went once again to the same place for printing leaflets for Bluesky school and then it all was already faster and easier for me. That time Gina did not have spare time though and she led me to another shop a few rooms further where another woman helped me with the layout and printing. For the cutting I already knew where to find the paper guillotine man.