COUNTRY: Maldives
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Community Healthcare
WRITTEN BY: Lauren Hansen
Over the last three weeks we have settled into the routine of our placements and daily life here in the Maldives. However, the addition of new extra-curricular programs this week has kept us vigilant and is a reminder that each week on the island brings new challenges and excitement.
Supplementary to another caesarean at the hospital which Katherine got to see, the nurses at the hospital did a series of school visits around the Atoll this week, talking to senior students about the importance of nutrition and hygiene. In particular, they discussed healthy eating, the food pyramid and hand hygiene. They are also aiming to bring hygiene and sterilisation to attention within their hospital this week with a workshop planned for the nurses. At Hithadoo School the completion of the first aid workshops left an opportunity for Ashleigh to begin her counselling workshops for the teachers, to provide them with resources and skills for helping students in need.
Swim lessons have been popular with both schools and the students are progressing well. The first swim lesson for Sharafuddin School this week was greeted with an overwhelming response of nearly 100 kids for the 4 volunteers to teach; luckily the nursing students were home and quickly biked down to the beach to help out!
The pre-schoolers also did some swimming this week with a special “pool day” at pre-school, filling the playground with inflatable pools and pool toys for the kids to splash around in. Kara also taught the kids a poem one afternoon, not an easy feat to teach to three year olds, especially since they have limited English! At the schools English, Social Science, PE and Maths lessons continue. Yesterday was a public holiday so there was no school. Instead of school, the year one students had their first excursion which they were very excited about. I went with and learnt all about identifying local plants. This week was culture week for Ben and Gabby’s year two students so the students wore traditional dress into school and shared local food. They managed to get Ben dressed up in a sarong!
The year two dance group at Hithadoo School also put on their traditional costumes and did a special pre-performance for us student teachers before they went down to one of the local resorts to perform. At Sharafuddin School, the teachers got a more physical introduction to Maldivian Culture through the game “Bashi” which is a traditional sport played here on holidays and over festivals. From my understanding it is something like backwards tennis, you face away from the net and try to hit the ball over your head and the net while people on the other side try to catch the ball.
In our free time over the last week we did another beach clean-up with the help of the Rowing Association and more night snorkelling. We were lucky enough to catch a turtle every trip to take pictures with before letting it swim away. The night barbeque on the uninhabited island was stunning, cooking up fresh fish caught by Bree and Katherine over a fire made of coconut shells on a private beach- definitely getting immersed in the local culture!
Last night a group of us slept on the island under a full moon, we taught the excursion team how to roast marshmallows over the fire and in return they taught us how to roast coconut flesh to make “Maldivian marshmallows”. We also had a go at spear fishing, although judging by Ben’s several attempts to spear an (already dead!) fish, it must be harder than it looks! Tonight we are heading out reef fishing off the boat so maybe we will have more luck with that! Looking forward to the week ahead as we wrap up our programs at placements and consolidate what we have learnt both professionally and personally from the trip so far.
In only 7 days we’ll be back at home with a good cappuccino made of real milk rather than powdered, a hot shower and not getting woken up by the 4:30am prayer call. However, I know as soon as we leave here I will miss the people, both those within our team, those that have helped us at placements, the excursion team and our In Country Partner Suna. Our house has had many visitors this week and both the students and teachers have been giving us all kinds of lovely gifts and presents from fresh fruits to hand-made craft created from local shells as a welcome to country and now as thank you gifts. Hopefully though our work at placements and within the community through extra–programs for the schools and hospitals, the locals gain as much out of our experience here as we have.
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