Red Crosser Beth Whelan recently traveled to the Maldives as part of her work with the Tsunami Recovery Program (affectionately known around here as TRP).

Below you’ll see her beautiful photos and a few anecdotes about her experiences.

Just like the groups of tourists around us, the group I was traveling with entered the terminal for local air travel within the Maldives. Each group checked in, weighed their bags, and boarded mini-buses to where the seaplanes were located. We then started our journeys low over the sparkling turquoise blue water, looking out at intermittent islands, sand reefs, and speedboats, cruise ships, and barges below.

But that is where the similarities between our group and the groups of tourists ended and the differences began. They landed on islands that are home only to resorts and were whisked away to bungalows situated right in the water, luxurious spacious rooms, and pristine white powdery beaches for their fresh fruit drinks, spa treatments, and five-star service (I read all this in the guide books).

Meanwhile we had to continue our journey on a forty-five minute speedboat ride before eventually arriving at the inhabited island of Kudahuvaadhoo- now home to almost 2000 Maldivians after more than 800 people were relocated when their island homes of Gemendhoo and Vanee were severely damaged by the 2004 tsunami.

I was traveling with our Maldivian Water and Sanitation team and another expatriate from our Technical Assistance Unit to attend a Children’s Hygiene and Sanitation Training (CHAST) where our staff would train elementary teachers and older students to use games, coloring activities, and role plays developed specifically for the Maldives to teach children how diseases are spread, when to wash their hands, and good personal hygiene practices.

I was also able to sit in on a water conservation workshop conducted by our staff and requested by the community as part of their plan to improve the environmental health and sanitation on the island. At one point, the attendees were broken into groups to estimate how much water was currently being used in different settings (school, home, hospital) and how much could be conserved through various means. By the time the hospital team was finished, they had determined that the hospital could save 6,000 of the 10,000 liters they were estimated to use!

While the team’s estimate was just that, and surely a little ambitious, the excitement and motivation to make a difference in the environment, even on an island less than a mile around, was invigorating. And for Maldivians, this is especially important due to already low groundwater tables. At the end of the workshop attendees started on a plan to share these conservation messages with the rest of the community. Meanwhile I went back to my quaint little room in the one rest house on the island, took a very short shower, and made sure to turn off the water as I brushed my teeth.That evening I can’t say I was too jealous of the relaxing, sun-kissed tourists who started their journeys when we did. But, if I ever am lucky enough (i.e. wealthy enough) to be in their shoes, I’ll still follow good water conservation practices, I swear!

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Filed under: International