wish you could have been there.

vlad writes:

here's a long overdue update.

as for the shack, it would have been quite nice to be able to share with you all the moments we've had there these past few weeks. almost every idea we had for the shack's potential came to life in just the few past days. i taught an open water class with the assistance of dmc extraordinaires salvador and indika and the two students left with raving comments about their experience and the shack's energy. we had a couple of groups come for day dives and ended up staying for a nice dinner on the beach which was made possible by chamly, the shack's masterful culinary conductor. we offered stilt fishing classes. we had women from the village come and show some of their crafts for us to sell, an idea that salvador began to implement and had the season not cut our time here short for sure would have taken off in a great way. we also had a couple of volunteers. one through phil's brother. jeannie, who was wonderful. got together a group of kids and had some great art workshops which i wish i would have had the time to take myself. the shack looked great with the hanging mobiles, painted coconut shells and curd pots. definitely something to repeat next season. the other volunteer, marissa, actually came to us from a posting on one of the travel sites!! she had a cooking class with chamly and was so pleased she said she wants to contact the guy that put the posting up on the lonely planet site and thank him for the tip.

the only part of the shack we didn't get a chance to explore much was the tours. however, from the response we've had and the enthusiasm everyone that stops by the shack demonstrates, tours to the local attractions should not prove too difficult to get going. overall it's been incredibly encouraging to see the shack work as nicely as it has. the idea of creating an education and capacitation center as part of the program will definitely have the opportunity to live up to its potential next fall, when the seas calm down and the tourists return. of course we definitely need to fine tune the systems so the shack makes money for the community in the most efficient way, but without demand there is no money to be made. these past few weeks have demonstrated the demand will be there.

so what are you up to next fall? we're definitely gearing up to be back there to see the memorial being built of course, as well as to see the overall project bloom. we got permission from padi to translate all the materials into sinhalese and chempike is already working on the dm manual and after that one will tackle the diving knowledge workbook. that means the rescue divers in madiha will be able to prepare the academic part of the dm course for these next few months so when we're back it'll be much easier to help them fulfill the requirements to get certified as dm's. also, chempike will translate the open water book so the benefits of the training can spread to many more sri lankans, albeit with a minimal fee attached so there is inherent value on the training.

given these goals and the shack's potential we need to have at least one dive instructor in madiha during the entire season. anyone interested?