Highs and Lows

High: 95 F

Low: 75 F

Humitity: 1000000000% (this is a high that actually equals a low)

High: Buying the trash bins, painting them with our slogan and other information, and making them more theft-proof achieved in one night.

Low: Having the local MCD (trash removal) manager all of a sudden be "on leave" after promising us days ago that we would have workers on launch day.

Low: Not being able to install the bins on Monday after trying all of our contacts.

High: making new partners for the sustainability network of the project - they are very sharp and experienced community mobilizers for the local NGO YWCA, who have lived and worked for the area we serve for 15 years. They are on board to take ownership of the project when we leave.

Low: Entire group working on many nights of less than 6 hours of sleep and no days off for the past 2 weeks

High: Organizing a meeting for all the stakeholders in the project to ensure the sustainability of the project the day before the meeting and having nearly everyone (10 out of 12 people show up). Here was the attendance list - the community, the NGO, the trash company, and the government got together and talked about how they could make this work...amazing.

Low: One of our community committee members is a ~60 year old female shop owner who came late to the meeting with a huge wad of chewing tobacco in her mouth and then blamed the MCD manager for how dirty the community is...uh, yeah...not helping the team there....

High and then low: eating all the left over samosas, gulab jamuns, and drinking mountain dew after the meeting was over and we were able to talk again...

We are two days late for implementation and we can tell the community really wants the trash bins to come...so that is good at least. Today, if the MCD local manager doesn't find a worker (despite assuring us for the past week that he would)...we'll have to do something...but I don't know what...

Good luck today team!

PS: bought ailine ticket to Goa from the 7th to the 16th of Aug. - I am going to the Southern beaches!