Final update from University of Sydney students in the Maldives

COUNTRY: Maldives
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Swimming Coaching
WRITTEN BY: University of Sydney, Education students, Corinne Wilson

"What sets the world in motion is the interplay of differences and their attractions."

As it comes to the end of our last week here in beautiful Hithadhoo, it is fair to say that these last few days were a roller coaster of emotions and memorable experiences.

For those teaching at Sharaffudin School, the last the afternoon swimming coaching session was a sad but joyous event, with many children beaming with happiness as their teachers handed them gifts of goggles and swimming caps. Many parents shared stories of how their children were so eager to get down to the beach for swimming lessons every afternoon.

For us at Hithadhoo School, coaching netball was an extremely rewarding experience. Seeing the exponential improvement in the skills and fitness of our girls during training reminded us why we chose this profession. It was a bitter sweet last ten minutes in our final training session as we played our usual teachers verse students round of End Zone.

A special highlight for Emily and Christian was delivering donations of pencil cases and stationary to an underprivileged preschool.

For myself, this week involved amazing opportunities to share my own strengths and passions with both students and teachers. Hithadhoo School invited me to present a range of seminars and workshops including a leadership seminar for the student leaders. It was stressful lead-up to my 2 hour workshop (laptop died night before) on same afternoon. This involved presenting management strategies for the students in business studies. Terrence, Susanna and myself are also lucky to be a part of our school's Professional Development Day tomorrow where we will share our knowledge on behaviour management and student engagement.

Today was definitely a highlight of our trip. Being the last day of school with the students, saying goodbye to them was very hard.

Along with the beautiful farewell, we had an unbelievable day of experiencing Maahifun, which is a special feast that is celebrated before Ramazaan every year. We were able to experience the amazing tradition of cleaning the school and feasting on yummy traditional foods.

To top it all off, surprising Terrence for his 21st birthday tonight with a room full of balloons and cheers was followed by sharing our last family dinner in the guesthouse. This couldn't have made our final few memories here on the island any more magical.

Reflecting back on today at school, I came to the realisation that any barriers that may have been present between our two cultures had vanished and we have fully embraced each other's differences. I had the feeling of complete comfort and a sense of belonging sitting there sharing food, laughter and gratitude.

I am beyond overwhelmed by the love and care I have developed for my students and teachers here at Hithadhoo school. I know that all of us will greatly miss these friendships and beautiful faces.