Market and Sandals

Good morning from Uganda! 

 

Today Johnny and I ventured out a bit and ran a few odds/ends errands.  We rolled past Loko Village.  This is the village from a passable road.  Basically think poles with tin as the structure.  This is the village that brought loads of focus on Hackers for Charity, it is really how it all started.  Read about it here.

 We needed a few things from the Market so we drove over.  The first thing that hits you is the smells.  There are definite Live Stock smells, those I can live with.  Then there are some fish/dried fish stalls, that stuff is pretty strong.  Amongst all of the strange and wonderful fruits and various merchants, we stopped in the middle of the "tailor" section.  Hundreds and hundreds of stalls with Treadle Singer Sewing machines.  It was one of the sweetest sounds.

 Stall after stall all under make-shift tarps keeping the alley ways drier.  Its all red-clay so when it rains it becomes very slipperty and messy.  They dig a ditch through they alleys in the middle to drain water away.  Johnny just charges right in.  On this trip we bought belts from a few of the vendors.  The buckles and parts are "up cycled" into hand crafted pieces.  I commissioned the resident Journeyman "Johnson" to make me a belt and needed to get a buckle.

 This is the entrance to the market, we parked in a gas station and Johnny gave a nod to the armed guard.  Upon our return the guard gets a tip, I assume only if the vehicle is untouched and is still there.

 This guy deals with cooking.  One can purchase a small gill like device that is made from ceramic and can hold charcoal or burn off of cooking gas, the big pot goes over the top.

The ladies all part of the divine symphony that is the chattering of a time when things were made to last forever and will only need a small amount of maintenance to keep it all going.

 Here is Johnson working hard on my belt.  I asked for him to make me one like one he just delivered to a Belgian customer.  Johnson was very nervous talking to the customer,  so I became his next customer, this gives him the opportunity to see what it will take as his career advances from Journeyman to Master Leather Craftsman.  He is very dedicated and immediately started following our business advice on how he should price his work.  He feels bad asking a premium price for his products, I explained that the people he is dealing with want to have an authentic piece of art that someone they met had made.  He still balks at the price but appreciates that now when a customer walks in and asks "how much for a belt?" he has used mine as a test and can confidently say "75,000 shillings for a belt with a simple pattern, anything custom and the price goes up based on my time".  Its small things like this that educate Johnson in how to interract with customers.  If you want a genuine African Leather belt, hand tooled, the price is about $30 for a simple one and if it takes longer, like mine, well you just need to let the man tell you what he's worth (and remember that he is lowballing you).  I am honored to have been able to have this made and humbled by how genuine Johnson has been with me.

 Then Johnny and I went back to the leather shop.  I told him that the first pieces we should stitch are sandals.  They don't do sandals at Ngozi but for the experience and to use this as a learning opportunity, we did some product development.

Here we are at the Tooling phase.

The design came together on the fly and we even did some art on the Sandals.  I even picked up the leather tools for the first time since 7th grade and cut a design into one of the Sandals.  It was fun learning the process for binding leather the way we were and it was great to feel the tools again.  

Sometimes perspective is something that is lost so quickly that we never see it smack us in the face, until we really get it good.  The fire at Loko Village, completely destroyed the homes of over 100 people.  Imagine living in abject poverty and having the roof over your head disappear.  Johnny saw this need and really wanted to figure out a way to help.  I think that we all lose our perspective and that was Johnny's moment to really make a difference and get smacked in the face a bit.  Hackers for Charity has built many programs but out of Loko Village came a guy that wanted to learn something new.  He wasn't looking for a job, he didn't even think about that aspect, he just wanted to learn.  He is now a journeyman in the progam (I am using that word as a reference point, he's pretty far beyond that.)  He returns to Loko, helps a few children now and then and has become that voice that a few hear on how to get out of that situation and work your way toward a life of less worry.  Today I teased him about his girlfriend and you could tell that he thinks of where his life is going.  Not that long ago, he wouldn't have seen past his next meal.  

My next post is going to be a bit about some of the technology things we did today, I am sure you are already only occupying the edge of your seat but relax, that post will be in a day or two.  Tomorrow is another day.  Lets see what it brings.