Frustration

Things have been happening this past week that have gotten everyone a little frustrated. Getting the community members to corporate and help build the toilets have been like pulling teeth. They feel entitled to get paid for every little thing that they do. Granted on one hand I understand that they need to make money but on the other hand this toilet is for the community so volunteering wouldn’t kill them either. Some of the community members were upset that they are going to have to pay to use the toilets where as the toilets that they are using now is free of charge for community members. We have been trying to explain to the men and women that the money that is collected will be used to maintain the toilets and keep them clean and working. If there were no charge to use the new toilets then they would be destroyed by the community members and the market sellers. There have been many rumors that have been spreading throughout the community such as an NGO is building the toilets and will be giving out other free goodies as well, there was a rumor that an NGO was going to build toilets in every house and the most recent rumor was that we were building the toilets only for a specific church. Getting this community organized has been difficult and I’m hoping that this will soon pass and we can start the workshops. It is difficult to help people who aren't helping themselves. I’m hoping tomorrow being a holiday and everything being closed for the Independence celebration we can relax and refocus our energy towards getting this project finished. The toilet will be opening in less than 3 weeks and there is so much to do.