visiting the quarry

We welcome potential customers and visitors to visit the Women of Kireka quarry! We believe it helps individuals better understand the hardships faced by the women and their community. If  you are a business, this visit will help you better understand how to market the product. As we all work as volunteers, we ask for USD 7 per visit to cover the facilitator’s transport to the site from Kampala (about 15,000 Ugandan shillings). You are asked to kindly cover your own travel costs as well. Contact myself or Project Diaspora to arrange a visit.

• What You Will See: During your visit, the women will show you the quarry, their jewelry and will demonstrate how they make the beads. Count on about 1 hour at the quarry itself. It is generally appreciated that visitors purchase one or two items of jewelry (i.e. spend at least USD 2) as facilitating visits costs the women time and resources! Don’t worry, you’ll like everything you see.

• Transport:

Motorycle- For those accustomed to Kampala’s traffic and enjoy riding the infamous motorcycles, we can take you up in a boda-boda. The trip takes about 1 hour travel round-trip and costs around 7 USD.

Private Hire Taxi - For those less comfortable on motorcycles, we can rent a private hire (taxi) to take you up to the quarry. This option is a bit more expensive, and depending on when you go, it can leave you stuck in traffic for one-hour each way. If the facilitator rides to and fro with you, we will not charge the 7 USD as you will have already covered transport. This is a much safer option than taking a motorcycle.

Matatu/Public Transport – For old hands, you can take a matatu back and forth from the quarry. Beware, traffic is a disaster between 5 and 7 PM, our preferred visit times.

• Group Size: Small groups (2-3 people) are preferred.

• Facilitator: The visit will be facilitated by Lynet Kanzala, who assists the Women of Kireka while juggling her university studies. Unfortunately, myself, Project Diaspora and Ethnic Supplies are in and out of the country and not always able to facilitate. We prefer evening visits (5 PM departure from Downtown Kampala), as Lynet often has classes.

Remember, there’s nothing fancy to these visits! You’ll spend some time in gritty traffic on the way to the quarry. Once arrived, you’ll be gifted with a fantastic view, both of the quarry and Kampala’s suburbs.

• We Do Not: Unfortunately, we do not facilitate food, water (bring lots, it gets dusty!) or transport. Kindly respect the environment you are in and keep photographs to a minimum. Please do not hand-out donations, purchases are preferred. Please remember that the Women of Kireka are running a business and a minimum of gawking at the awful working conditions (which, granted, do exist) is appreciated.

Contact myself or Project Diaspora to arrange a visit.