In late March 2012 I changed my freezing motherland Estonia for nine months with Ugandan capital Kampala. I left with a goal which some called "Siisi´s mission impossible": to open a small cafè which provides first job experience to the youth with special needs.

2012 a märtsi lõpus vahetasin ma karge Tallinna Uganda pealinna Kampala vastu. Ma sõitsin üheksaks kuuks Kampalasse, et viia ellu plaan, mida mõned kutsuvad "Siisi mission impossible"-ks: käivitada Kampalas väike kohvik, mis pakub esmast töökogemust erivajadustega noortele.

Sep 3, 2012

Töötajaskond seab end sisse/ The staff is settling in

Pop Up ei ole enam üksik ja tühi! Tunnike tagasi lõin esimest korda Pop Upi värava kinni rahuliku südamega, sest sinna jäi minust maha naeratav meeskond! Anette ja Olivia kolisid täna sisse, homme saabuvad Bluesky kooli poisid. Pimeduse hakul lõime Andrewga veel värava külge uue sildi: "Pop Up cafe and restaurant now open for lunch buffee" - teisisõnu serveerib Pop Up homme esimese lõuna!:)

Pop Up is no longer empty! About an hour ago I closed the Pop Up gate for the first time in restful mood, because I left behind a smiling team. Anette and Olivia moved in today, and Bluesky boys will arrive tomorrow. And before leaving we put up a new banner, stating "Pop Up cafe and restaurant now open for lunch buffee" - in other words, tomorrow we will serve the very first Pop Up lunch!

Sam, Siisi, Anette, Gigi, Andrew, Olivia

Kõige suurema pagasiga saabus kohale aga majahoidja Nelson. Nelson vääriks omaette postitust, kuid lühidalt on tegu Põhja-Ugandast pärit pisikese museiga (vanamehega), kes maaklerina mul Pop Upi asukoha aitas leida. Nelson teeb kõiki töid, ostab-müüb-ja-vahetab (näiteks täna püüdis ta maha müüa oma popcorni masinat), valvab maju, koristab. Nelson tunneb kõiki ja Nelson aitab kõiges. Aga Nelson on ka see, kes mulle nõnda peavalu tekitab, et Sam ja Andrew kutsuvad teda irvitavalt minu boyfriendiks. Nelson ise kutsub mind auntieks (tädiks - kuigi vanuse järgi võiks tema olla onu). Minu lahkudes jäi Nelson oma autokastitäit asju 6m2´sse tuppa lahti pakkima... hoobeldes samal ajal oma odavalt saadud 1 kg´se OMO paki ja alarmilööva tabaluku üle.:)
Nelso, our caretaker, is the one who arrived with the biggest luggage. Nelson deserves a separate blogpost, but in short, he is a short musei from Northern-Uganda, who also helped me to find the current Pop Up location. Nelson does everything - he is buying, selling, exchanging (e.g. today he was trying to sell his popcorn machine), guarding houses, cleaning. Nelson knows everybody and Nelson is always willing to help, with everything. But at the same time Nelson is also the one who gives me a headache so that Sam and Andrew have started laughting about it by calling him my boyfrined. Nelson himself calls me an aunty (despite the fact that in terms of age he could be my oncle). I now left Nelson there working seriously on fitting all his belonging into a small 6m2 room... meanwhile boasting about the 1kg OMO he got for good price, and a padlock which alarms when somebody tries to break it...:)