There have been more than a few unsettling moments during the past 3 1/2 months. Most of them have to do with the recognition that we have round-trip tickets and will be leaving here, that we will be alright. But the people we work with and have grown so close to can’t really go anywhere, and their futures are much, much less certain. Perhaps the biggest drag on moving forward, the thing that has the potential to finally torpedo everything we’ve been doing here and turn Waste-for-Life into an academic exercise, has been the hotpress – or lack of a hotpress – which is the key mechanical technology we’re sharing with the recycling cooperatives. Getting the hotpress manufactured here (as well as in Canada) has been a major stumbling block, but yesterday we visited Tomas’ workshop, which was a 3 hour trip for us out of the city, and saw the pieces of the hotpress ready to be assembled. We expect that we can actually begin training sessions within the month.
