Meeting Hysteria

Several months ago Amanda came to the environment team and presented us with a list of Environmental Focal Points. These were supposedly people who were interested in learning more about the environment and Sewalanka's environmental programs. We were told to create regular meetings and invite the people on the list to learn about various topics.

We finally scheduled one of these meetings a few weeks ago. I held a special meeting with the team to discuss when to do it, how to do it, etc. People volunteered for tasks and then, nothing happened. O.k. people were cajoled into volunteering and that was a clear indication they weren't interested. Normally I'd just do these things myself, but this time they need to be done in Sinhala, so I'm out.

Last week we had another meeting and I pushed the team to get stuff done -- send out invitations, plan presentations, etc. Time was running out! Anyway, we sent e-mail invitations on Tuesday for a meeting that was to happen tomorrow. Not a lot of time to plan, but I've received invitations the day before an event here, so I assumed this wouldn't be a problem. We asked for an RSVP because it was scheduled to take an entire day and thus would required food and in some cases accommodation and we wanted to plan for that. We gave them until Friday to let us know.

On Friday we had one RSVP. So we canceled. No reason to have a training if no one is coming. Heck, I was even thinking we should just scrap this entire Environmental Focal Point idea as it was clear the offices weren't as interested as we were led to believe.

So today I come into the office and all hell has broken loose. Apparently, people are coming. How my colleagues know this now is a mystery. Poor Kusala is now calling everyone to stop them. The Districts are blaming her for a lack of information. Excuse me, but they didn't tell us they were coming. I informed our one RSVP that the event was canceled and he responded to thank me for letting him know. Ajith comes in and asks if we are ready for tomorrow. When we told him it is canceled he said people from his office were planning to come! How can we be expected to host a training when we have no idea who is coming? These are all Sewalanka staff members, they can't extend the courtesy to let us know they will be here.

And then to blame my colleagues just seems to add insult to injury.

Can you tell I'm frustrated?

I definitely don't need this frustration today. I'm still sore. I'm much better, but my right shoulder and knee hurt when I sit still too long. Oh well.