paavima

A Star is Born (2 actually)

2007-10-08T18:05:00.000+02:00

Today I bring you the story of one of Paavima's greatest triumphs, the certification of Indika Gunawardena as a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor, one of just a handful of Sri Lankan scuba instructors in Sri Lanka today.

First a little background on Indika. Having grown up managing his father's guest house, The Beach Inns, Indika has commanded a working knowledge of English and an excellent knack for lateral thinking, problem solving as well as a cross cultural sensibility. Indika graduated from high school, passed his exams and has worked on and off at his Dad's hotel ever since, making friends from around the world. Indika has served as a consultant, advisor, translator and cultural liaison for Paavima from day one. Of course, Indika also spent countless hours making sure that these strange visitors didn't violate too many cultural norms. And violate we did, whether it was doing too much on Poya day (full-moon), not having our boats blessed, or having our girlfriends parade around in bikini's, he was always there to keep us straight and inform the rest of the village, that hey, these dumb foreigners just didn't know any better.

Last year, Indika finished his Assistant Instructor PADI certification with our own Vladimir Soto and since that time, Paavima.org has been hard at work raising money to fund his Instructor Development Course (IDC) and Instructor Examination (IE) that we scheduled for September in Phuket, Thailand with Bjorn Täckmann (http://www.idc-phuket.com). Due to the language barrier, someone needed to go with Indika to the IDC and to help him out when necessary. I could not bear to miss this chance to skip out on work and fly to Thailand with Indika, especially considering that it was his first ever plane ride, his first trip out of the country. Our destination was, Kata Beach, Phuket, about 10 minutes from Patong, the Thai equivalent of Sodom and Gomorrah. Of course, I wanted to go for my own instructor certification as well. So we arrived at the Dive Asia center (http://www.dive-asia.com) about 3 days prior to the IDC and began our pre-study sessions, which involved some skill reviews in the pool and taking a few practice Theory exams.

A quick note for those non-divemasters/instructors out there about the exams. The I.E. exams come in 2 parts, the first of which is broken up into 6 sections, Physics, Skills & Environment, Dive Planning, Equipment and Physiology. There are 12 questions in each section, no more than three can be missed in each. The second part is a standards test, where the candidate must find answers to lengthy questions about PADI standards in various parts of the PADI Instructors Manual, a tome that makes Crime and Punishment look like light reading. Now, keep in mind that not one line of PADI course material comes in Sinhalese, one of the two dominant languages in Sri Lanka. If you're a geek like me, you like saying things like “decreased partial pressure causes supersaturation” and “mediastinal emphysema is a very serious barotrauma”. Perhaps that's why I didn't have many dates in high school. Nevertheless, to one who's fluent in English, such phrases can be solved with Google or god forbid, the dictionary. But for a non-English speaker, with little formal training beyond tourists, the task is utterly Herculean, even if you do know how to order a beer in 20 languages.

So, after the first day of exams, the results came back and they were not good. Steve, the Master Instructor who was assisting Bjorn pulled me aside with a worried look and showed me the exam. Honestly, it looked like a highlighter had exploded on the page: the tally? 49%. “Yikes”, I thought to myself. My results were fine, little brush up here and there, but not much to worry about, and so our journey began. Indika is a close friend of mine and he trusts me implicitly. However, he looked very worried when he saw his test results. I could see everything in his eyes, expectations of his family, his friends, 10 of us Paavimates, a dozen or so donors around the world and then the 100's if not 1000's of Sri Lankan's he was destined to train and help with his work through Paavima.org. The only thing I could do was reassure him to trust me and that we were going to get through this together, one step at a time. I told him one of my favorite sayings, “How do you eat an elephant? The same way you eat everything else, one bite at a time.” This always gets a bit of a laugh since elephants are so respected and revered. BTW, Please don't go making this joke around people or in countries, you are not intimately familiar with.

You might be asking yourself, how can this happen, when he was a certified Divemaster and Assistant Instructor? The answer is simple. Many of us, as professional divers, perform 'spot learning' when it comes to the Theory material required for the Divemaster course. Most 'normal' divers, never use this knowledge and thus when the exam is over, it's gone faster than the memories of a rough night out drinking (before cell phones had cameras anyways.) That , combined with the fact that much of Indika's exams were done orally, means that very little of the material had sunk in, probably no different than you other divemasters out there reading this article. Regarding the I.E, the overwhelming majority of candidates who fail, do so during the test portion not in the water.

How was Indika in the water? Steve, Phill, Bjorn and Nikki all commented immediately on how comfortable Indika was in the water and how good his skills were. So, my job was to tutor him on the classroom material. And so we began, in the mornings from 7 to 9, and after dinner from 7 until, very frequently 2 or 3 in the morning. After 3 days, we took another exam. His result, 89%! I couldn't believe it. I'm not that good of a teacher. But so it was, and we began to relax a bit, which was a mistake. The issue? The practice exams vary tremendously in difficulty. These exams were easy and when the next set came in a few days later, the results were very similar to the first. Our strategy was simple, work through every missed problem. When an area indicated significant difficulty, we would stop and do an extensive review of the topic, each of which needed to be followed by a verbal confirmation that it was understood. At this point, we were 1/3 through the IDC, we were stressed out, out of sleep and no one was having much fun. Then we hit another bump, the study habits instilled by the Sri Lankan school system. The problem? There were none. Indika was not taking notes and thus doing the problems in his head! I emphasized the importance of writing everything down, notes, problems everything. Now halfway to the I.E, we had another exam to take and we were both exhausted. We had to stop our all-night study sessions and needed to get some serious sleep. My own test scores had been slipping since the first day due to exhaustion and stress. The next day, we did better, down to 2 out of 5 sections that we needed to pass. Physics was killing him. Strangely, all the laws made sense to him. Indika knew what happened to gases and liquids when various parameters where changed, temperature, pressure, etc. But when moving on to the advanced tests, the numbers we were dealing with were no longer even divisors of he other and thus basic algebra was needed. The bomb was dropped. Indika had learned little basic algebra years ago, and no math competency was required to pass his high school exit exam. Ugh. So after swearing never to enroll my kid in that school, I set out to teach the basic principles of interval arithmetic, variable substitution and algebraic reduction. Even the word 'variable' was a hurdle. Imagine trying to teach someone about what a 'variable' is, that it can have any name, any number of letters, often implicitly has a multiplication factor in front of it and that there may be more than one in an equation. Are you frightened yet? I was and wishing terribly that I knew the Thai word for Valium. Another tricky one: The concept of negative numbers. -1 + 1 = 0 could never be more difficult. And the rules of reduction; remember how easy it was to 'multiply both sides by a constant factor'? So, in addition to dive planning, we worked algebra every day. Indika never broke, his attitude never failed. I asked him to trust and believe and he did. He was up before me every day and asleep after me every day. And no matter how tired he was, he never said “I can't do this”. Many of the other students gave us strange looks when I'd ask Indika over breakfast what -3 plus 1 was.

The rest of the course was going reasonably well. Indika performed well in the water, especially during the problem solving scenarios. The only other challenge was the teaching presentations, which needed to be in a defined format. He wasn't the only one having difficulty with that, as others in the class also wrestled with changing their focus from the notes to the class to the white board and back. But his smile and enthusiasm just blew everyone away. No matter what he did, he was having fun when we has in front of people. So, with just a few days to go, the next hurdle came up, a practice standards exam. Indika came to me the next day and said it had taken him 2 hours to get the answers to 3 questions. As we both had electronic versions of the Instructor Manual, this one came down to a bit of computer tutoring and the wonders of the search button. But the language barrier was still killing him. Even with the search button, it takes a fluent speaker to absorb the context of the results to see if the match is appropriate. But we continued to work with it. Bjorn, the course director, spent an extra amount of time going through each of the standards sections in the manual, in an effort to make us all more familiar with the material.

At this point, we were at the end of our IDC. The exam was around the corner and we had one more practice exam, both Theory and Standards. On the Theory test, Indika was close to passing but not yet over the hump. On the standards test, he was beaten up pretty badly with a 60%. The course director suggested we reschedule our EFR training (Emergency First Response) to another day so we'd have another 18 hours to study. And so we did. Again, working through every question of that 3-hour test over the next 18 hours. Indika was looking worried still. And, unbenounced to him, I had started emailing the rest of Paavima to prepare him for what was the inevitable. Indika would fail this test and I had failed him as a tutor and we needed to have a backup plan. Bjorn had spoken repeatedly about the big party that was happening after the I.E. and all I could think of was being at that party without Indika. I gathered my thoughts and said to him, “You are doing the best you can, that is all anyone can ask. Tomorrow, go into the exam and do exactly as you've been doing. There is another I.E. in a week if things don't go our way. This is not an all-or-nothing affair my friend, this is just you doing the best you can. We will get through this together.” Now, when you give such a speech to a 24 year old, you don't really expect them to listen. But Indika did, he looked visibly relieved and we set out on a marathon study session that mandated 6 hours of studying, 6 hours of sleep followed by 6 more hours of studying before the exam the next day. Upon review, I was given new hope! 75% of the questions Indika missed, he did so because he did not understand the question! This was good news, as we were allowed to ask as many questions of the examiners as needed to make the question clear. Upon review of his score with the questions that he could have gotten correct, he just might pass. I told all my friends that night to pray to their god of choice for a little help. We were going to need it.

We met the next day at the hotel and Indika and I sat side by side. He still smiled and joked in his nervous way. His hand kept moving from his head to his chest. I paced, smoked cigarettes (I'm not really a smoker) and drank coffee nervously. The Dive Asia crew Bjorn, Steve, Phil, Nikki were all there, as were the other candidates, Lais (Brazil), Luke (Canada) and Tyler (US). Everyone became friends during this IDC, everyone helped Indika and everyone wanted him to succeed. As we sat down, I was to take the Standards test first and Indika was to take Theory. I kept telling him to ask questions. After we started, I got to question 10 of 50 on the standards test and thought “Shit, there is no way he can pass this test.” The exam I was given was nearly 10 years old and each question was 3-4 sentences long, with difficult vocabulary and construction. It didn't resemble the practice tests we had been taking very much. During that 90 minutes, I asked about 20 questions, both to ensure my own success as well as to demonstrate to Indika that I had no shame in asking questions about everything. Fortunately, Indika was awarded a bit of extra time as the PADI materials are not available in his native language. We didn't finish together so we were not able to talk during our 10-minute break. Eventually, we were both at our desks again and this time he was taking the Standards exam. I kept peeking over to see how it was going. He was blowing air out his nostrils in frustration and I could see he only had a bit of the answer key marked. I took a big risk and whispered to him “Indika, you have got to ask questions”. He whispered back, “I don't understand any of this!”. My heart sank. “Please just ask.” I said. And at that, I went back to my test. He was on his own now. If I could have failed for him, I would have, but it doesn't work that way. I finished my test and went outside and the others followed shortly. We all gathered and talked about our scores. Everyone had passed the exam. Everyone was waiting for Indika. The only analogy to the IDC and IE could be basic training commonly known as boot camp. The friends you make there, you surely never forget. It was hard to celebrate our own success, we all knew how difficult the test was and how Indika must be feeling. Periodically the door would open and groups of happy candidates would come out. Every now and then, one would come out and you knew what had happened. I saw the look on the face of a French woman who had failed the test and prepared myself to face a good friend, with that very same look. The door opened and Indika stepped out. He was walking like John Wayne, two steps closer he broke out into a smile, opened his arms for a hug and said “I fu#$ing passed the test man!”. I yelled “Holy Shit” at the top of my lungs, it echoed throughout the atrium of the 5 star hotel. We all hugged each other, we jumped, laughed, screamed. All decorum was lost and all youth was regained. His success was our success. Our success was his. A new instructor was about to be born.

On return to the dive center, we broke the news to Steve, our Master Instructor. Steve, hadn't let his guard down around us much throughout the IDC. When he heard the news, he dropped his cool British demeanor and grabbed Indika and hugged him like a father hugs his son after he's been away from home for years. Everyone was in a combined state of elation and stunned disbelief. He had done it. Next up were 2 days of practicals, which we had rehearsed repeatedly, with Bjorn, Steve, Phil and Nikki. We were ready. During those next 2 days, Indika wasn't the only one who exceeded himself. I saw everyone in our group perform better than they ever had before. I don't know if it's like this for every I.E., as I never ever hope to take one again. But the inspiration that Indika provided us all to exceed surely fueled our stellar performance those next 2 days. On the last day, we were to teach some skills from an open water class followed by each of us performing an in-water rescue. Conditions were horrible. 1-meter seas, downpour, and visibility about three meters, but we all did it. No one made any obvious critical mistakes, but the final word would come from Rob, our examiner. It is so easy to fail the I.E., as missing one critical mistake in a simulated student could result in severe injury later on. So, the pressure is really on. We did our final briefings and then it was time for the results. I passed and then waited for the results for Indika. There would be no premature celebrations. Indika received his marks and emerged with that broad smile. Indika grabbed me and we hugged, laughing, congratulating each other. We danced around for a while, with exclamations of “Get a Room!” being shouted in at least six different languages from the others on board. Only our group knew of the magnitude of this accomplishment. At that point, it was truly over, I could finally relax and let go, so put my hands and head down on the table, stretched out and had a good cry in plain sight of everyone on deck. Years of work had come down to this one simple moment, a triumph of the individual over seemingly insurmountable odds.

If you are like me, you find it hard to find many things to be hopeful about these days. There is so much conflict driven by dogmatism, greed, fear and ignorance that many things each of us find important in life don't get much press anymore. Rarely ever do we read a headline that gives us a true sense of hope for humanity as a whole, one that gives us faith in human nature. My friends, this story is one such headline and it is a privilege to share it with you. The reality is that the world functions on the accomplishments of the individual, but those individuals need support, be it family, friends, communities or merely a group of strange foreigners who thought helping out in Sri Lanka is way more fun than going to work. My fondest memory of this occasion was Indika smiling, holding his head with his hands and saying, “I never thought I could be doing anything like that.” This isn't just a story, it's a lesson. Next time you're thinking about something that seems impossible, think about Indika down there in Madiha, Sri Lanka, probably a world away from where you're sitting at this very moment. He did it and so can you. Indika, way to go my friend.

Indika, myself and the rest of Paavima will continue to operate the non-profit dive and eco-tourism center down in Madiha, Sri Lanka as well as to provide community outreach and training programs whenever possible. Should you be in the area and feel like going for a dive, checking out the wildlife and/or volunteering some of your time, please contact us at info@paavima.org. Note that Paavima.org is still searching for additional funds to help cover Indika's costs for the IDC/IE. If you'd like to make a donation, please visit the website and use our PayPal account.

Many thanks and humble regards,
Philip Mucci, OWSI, Paavima.org

go, indika, go!

2007-08-03T10:54:00.000+02:00

During the couple of years the paavima.org project has been active, all of us that have been part of it have seen some amazing developments and most of these in one way or another have had the positive influence of a bright young man, Indika. Now, dozens of dive courses, much effort and hundreds of dives later Indika is about to shoot for becoming an instructor himself, thus being able to continue nurturing the project on a constant basis and allowing others in Madiha and the vicinity opportunities to earn a livelihood in a safer manner never before available to them. If you're reading this please join me in wishing Indika much success in this exciting endeavor.

Go, Indika, go!!

Vlad.
--------
Padi Master Instructor 165157

2007-02-12T09:27:00.000+01:00

I will remember Damith as strong and shy; genuinely funny and sweet.

Damith had a bright light in his eyes for the future, and in his memory we should continue to illuminate this light.

I will miss the smile that he represented.

Francesca

in memoriam

2007-02-11T18:54:00.000+01:00

From the twilight of day till the twilight of evening, a leopard in the last years of the thirteenth century, would see some wooden planks, some vertical iron bars, men and women who changed, a wall and perhaps a stone gutter filled with dry leaves. He did not know, could not know, that he longed for love and cruelty and the hot pleasure of tearing things to pieces and the wind carrying the scent of a deer, but something suffocated and rebelled within him and God spoke to him in a dream: “You live and will die in this prison so that a man I know of may see you a certain number of times and not forget you and place your figure and symbol in a poem which has its precise place in the scheme of the universe. You suffer captivity, but you will have given a word to the poem.” God, in the dream, illumed the animal’s brutishness and the animal understood these reasons and accepted his destiny, but, when he awoke, there was in him only an obscure resignation, a valorous ignorance, for the machinery of the world is much too complex for the simplicity of a beast.

Years later, Dante was dying in Ravenna, as unjustified and as lonely as any other man. In a dream, God declared to him the secret purpose of his life and work; Dante, in wonderment knew at last who and what he was and blessed the bitterness of his life. Tradition relates that, upon waking, he felt that he had received and lost an infinite thing, something he would not be able to recuperate or even glimpse, for the machinery of this world is much too complex for the simplicity of man.

Jorge Luis Borges

In memory of our friend Damith, who passed away last Thursday, February 8th.

Great moment.

2007-01-29T14:43:00.000+01:00

See more paavima pictures here.

There have been many amazingly touching moments from the many I've spent working on the paavima project, but this past Monday 22nd I had without doubt, one of the best as this group of 5 divemasters (and dear friends) finished all their requirements to become PADI Assistant Instructors.

Among them were Indika and Sameera, who were both certified from PADI Open Water divers up to Assistant Instructors through the paavima program and in large part through me as their instructor.

The idea of becoming PADI instructors is not as distant for any of them now that they got a taste of what it will take, and for all of us that came to Madiha offering to share our love for diving and the ocean it's encouraging to see that perhaps what we were able to offer might actually leave an echo that could last quite a while. Hopefully, Indika, Sameera, Chamin, Rishan and Shirly will soon be able to help the communities throughout the island who earn a living by diving do so in a safer, better way.

Once again, congratulations guys!!!!
Vlad.

Captain Sameera taking us there.

Sameera and Rishan showing off their impecable buoyancy.

Indika showing off his impecable buoyancy.

Sameera and Vlad.

Rishan and Vlad.

Chamin and Vlad.

Indika and Vlad.

Shirly and Rishan.

See more paavima pictures here.

B & L.

2007-01-29T14:26:00.000+01:00

See more paavima pictures here.

Brigitta and Leigh decided to take an open water class through paavima after hearing about the project from our mutual diver friend Aaron.

Not only are both talented divers but their enthusiasm for anything underwater is truly engaging.

Hope to see you guys in Madiha often!Vlad, Brigitta, Leigh, Dr. Terney and Sameera.

Brigitta, Leigh and Sameera.

Brigitta meditating without a mask underwater...

Dr. Terney entertaining Brigitta and Leigh with a bit of Sri Lankan magic...

See more paavima pictures here.

Vivian and Nikki

2007-01-29T14:22:00.000+01:00

See more paavima pictures here.

When we met they were said they were hesitant to even snorkel on their own and now, they're confident divers!

We won't take credit for that one, either. We believe Vivian and Nikki were merely undiscovered naturals at this diving thing.

Thanks for participating in the paavima project Vivian and Nikki. Hope we get a chance to dive together again one of these days.

See more paavima pictures here.

John and Werner come to Madiha

2007-01-29T14:19:00.000+01:00

See more paavima pictures here.

paavima.org exists thanks to the volunteers that make it happen. Luckily for the project, John and Werner answered a post I placed on the PADI website some time ago and they are now in Madiha continuing to nurture what we started last season.

Unfortunately, this time around I won't be able to spend another 7 months in Madiha like I did last year along with Phil and Chava, but I'm glad, as I know they are too, that John and Werner are here to grab the teaching torch and run with it.

Guys, thanks!!
Vlad.

John

Werner

See more paavima pictures here.

Thumbs up, Thusitha

2007-01-29T14:14:00.000+01:00

See more paavima pictures here.

It took him a few months and a few bouts of claustrophobia but our friend Thusitha finally earned his very well deserved PADI Open Water Diver certification.

Great job buddy!

See more paavima pictures here.

Jason is now a diver too.

2007-01-29T14:09:00.000+01:00

See more paavima pictures here.

Jason is not only one of the founding paavimates but is also, now, a certified diver!

Congrats buddy! (And Rach, you're next!!)
Vlad.

See more paavima pictures here.

Real life rescue by paavima-trained divers

2007-01-29T14:05:00.000+01:00

See more paavima pictures here.

Sameera and Jayanthadas came to the aid of an older man swimming beyond the reefs in Madiha beach a couple of days ago.

As the man was struggling to stay afloat Jayanthadas saw him, and with Sameera, swam immediately towards him from the beach. Between the two of them they were able to drag him back to the shore within minutes and to end the episode nicely take a smiling picture all together. Nice one guys!!!

Commenting on the rescue and what happened...

The misleading and dangerous reef area.

A truly happy ending.

See more paavima pictures here.

Ruhuna University marine biologists go advanced

2007-01-29T13:54:00.000+01:00

See more paavima pictures here.

Sujeewa, Anushika, Kumara and Asela, just completed the requirements to become Padi Advanced divers.

Here are some photos as Dr. Terney, also from Ruhuna serves as divemaster during the course.

Congrats guys!
Vlad.

Divemaster candidate and boatman, Chamly, vigilant over the swells, from the boat.

Dr. Terney

Nayani going down the line.

Anushika, Asela, DM Indika, Kumara and Sujeewa.

Anushika and Asela.

See more paavima pictures here.

Thanks Aaron!!

2007-01-28T11:10:00.000+01:00

See more paavima pictures here.

Hey buddy, here's a blog hug not only for being a great dive buddy, but for all the support, good vibes and other great friends you've sent paavima's way Aaron.

Hope we get a chance to dive the memorial together one of these days, and perhaps, even the Cote D'Azur...

Cheerios,
Vlad.

Aaron

See more paavima pictures here.

Great way to start the year in Madiha.

2007-01-07T06:19:00.000+01:00

See more paavima pictures here.

ow class 29dec06-01jan07

Christie, Steve, Scott and Brad gave paavima a fantastic new year gift by completing their open water course with us on Jan first. This was the first course of the season we were able to hold and we were all elated at the opportunity to activate the program after the harsh monsoon season. Indika, the star divemaster did a fantastic job, Sameera impressed us all as a divemaster candidate on the verge of making the grade and Chamly, Chamin, Jayanthadas, Ravindra, Indika Muna Singh got some good practice helping out with the class and putting in time and effort as divemaster candidates.

Below are a few photos from the class and also some great notes from Christie and Steve, Scott and Brad.

Christie & Steve said:

We did our course over the new year weekend- what a fantastic way to bring in 2007! Vlad was a great instructor, really patient, thorough and fun, and the other dive masters, esp. Indika, were extremely helpful. Also great to pay such a good price, and to help the project out!!! ~ Christie & Steve

Scott said:

A meaningful way to get certified in a reasonably quick and affordable way; contributing to a worthwhile, local eco-friendly initiative, and also interacting directly with the local culture. -Scott Chaplowe (American Red Cross)

Brad said:

Just a note of how totally stoked I am with your paavima open water dive course last week down at Matara. Sri Lanka is great on top and even better when submerged! Thanks to your professional tuition - and alot of patience and care - I'm finally with all my underwater friends who I've so long wanted to hang out with. I mean the fishes.. as well as the new dive buddies I made from the American Red Cross who took the plunge with me on the southern coast of Sri Lanka. Vlad, you're an ace teacher and totally cool bloke. The organisation you guys have created is such a welcomed gig and the way you've structured it to help others less fortunate in giving locals access and knowledge of their marine and coastal environment is breath of fresh air (21%!!) on this war torn, post tsunami island.

Seriously, keep up the great work and its been a pleasure dealing with you.... see you through the mask and bubbles real soon.

Brad Farmer
Project Manager, Alangkara Resorts, Sri Lanka
50 Church Street, FORT GALLE
(Founder, Surfider Foundation Australia)

See more paavima pictures here.

On their way to becoming divemasters...

2007-01-07T05:59:00.000+01:00

See more paavima pictures here.

Sameera, Chamly, Chamin, Jayanthadas, Ravindra and Indika Muna Singh are working hard towards their divemaster certification. We've been practicing the 20 basic skills and in-water rescues and they guys have been doing a great job. Here are a few picts:

See more paavima pictures here.

Ruhuna marine biologists AND newly certified divers!!

2007-01-07T05:49:00.001+01:00

Congrats to Nayani, Sujeewa, Harsha, Asela and Kumara who after a few bouts of sea sickness showed true Lankan resilience and finished all their Open Water Diver requirements. They are now fully certified divers AND marine biologists! They'll be starting their Advanced Diver course shortly.

why not volunteer in paradise???

2006-12-14T13:58:00.000+01:00

Hiya, paavimate Vlad here. We're looking for volunteers and good souls to come down to Sri Lanka and lend a hand.

paavima.org is a grass-roots organization (basically a bunch of diver friends) trying to help out a community in need. We're using dive training to enhance the locals' means to earn a living and have plans to build an amazing underwater memorial and artificial reef. Hence, the name paavima, which means buoyancy in Sinhala, the local language.

We're seeking dive instructors and English teachers (no experience needed), and we are also offering the opportunity to learn to dive with expert volunteer instructors for what is probably the lowest fee on the planet, earning a world recognized Padi certification. This is because your simple presence in Madiha, the town where the project is located would bring tangible benefits to the community we are trying to help.

So if you have 2 hours, 2 days, 2 weeks or 2 months, come check out the project and consider giving of yourself in a fun and enriching way.

You can get more info at paavima.org

Classes: Women's Class

2006-11-10T07:16:00.000+01:00

There are about fifteen women signed up for the Women's class but on average five to ten show up each time. They are a lot of fun to be with, even if we don't sing the Fruit Salad Song. I think one of the biggest pleasures in working with the women's class is their diversity. There are some young women there who are educated, who go to school, one who even drives, as well as older women and married women, one who is 63 years old.

The older women especially are not so used to standing up in front of a class and acting things out, or singing songs together or even throwing a ball around. I like coming up with games that challenge their comfort zones a little and get us giggling. It is such a pleasure to see them learning and to reinforce the risks they take when they open their mouths to speak.

(Photos: 1. Chamili & Guayanee. 2. BanduSealy, Dilka & Anusha. 3. Chamili and Guayanee.)

Classes: Children 6 - 11

2006-11-10T06:34:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday there were 35 children in my younger children's class. I walk down the street in the strong sunshine with fifteen minutes before class. Several students join me on the road. At first they are bursting with enthusiasm. "Jenny! Jenny!" they scream. I say hello. They fall into step and walk quietly beside me, their store of English exhausted. They sneak shy smiles at me when they think I'm not looking.

When we approach the school another group of children run out across the field to greet me. "Jenny! Jenny!" It always makes me smile, no matter how I am feeling. It is like some scene from Anne of Green Gables. I say hello to each child and we continue our slow walk in the sunshine.

When I enter the classroom, all of the children assemble to greet me formally and sit down. I look at my watch. There is always still at least five minutes before we will start. "Five minutes of play," I tell them. Every time they seem surprised, scream in delight and run around in aimless circles for awhile.

I take off my sunglasses, take out my water, clean off the blackboard, find my chalk, take out my lesson plans and get ready to teach. By the time I am ready, so are the children. They are sitting in the rusted little chairs, behind the handful of desks we have left, with notebooks ready (not that we ever use them), looking at me expectantly. The number of chairs and desks in the classroom is steadily diminishing. This week the table I use for my teaching materials finally bit the dust. I don't know if the chairs are being "borrowed" by other houses, or if they, too, are falling into disrepair. The number of students is not, as I expected it would, falling off. Thirty five is a lot of children. Some weeks it's only twenty, but it never seems to fall below that.

Today we "warm up" with my favorite song, the Fruit Salad Song. The children love singing. No matter how rowdy they are, as soon as I start a song, they are suddenly and magically all seated, staring up at me like angels. This time, though, I don't want angels, I want noise and energy and wildness. That's exactly what I got, and then some. Before I knew it, the music was at the edge of control, increasing in volume, bordering on pure noise. With the help of a lot of my incitement, the children shyly added their own actions to the song. Some were clapping, others were just screaming.

When it was all over, a few ran over the the tap in the yard to get water and the rest of us panted for a bit while we caught our breath. I then started our lesson on prepositions.

Half way through, someone shouted, "Bananas!" and the song started up again in an instant. What could I do? I started dancing along too. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

(Photos: 1. Children singing Fruit Salad Song. 2. Same. 3. Children walking home after class. ) Today formatting photos is just not working for me. Sorry about that.

An introduction

2006-10-31T07:46:00.000+01:00

Hi!

This probably should have been the first blog I wrote and not the second, but here I am, and I thought an introduction might be in the works.

My name is Jen and this is a picture of me sitting on a rampart at Galle Fort in Southern Sri Lanka. I am a volunteer with the Paavima project, living in Madiha, Matara, for about two months, between October and November, 2006.

My mission: to give community members a chance to practice and extend their English conversation skills.

As I have taught my students to say: "Hello! My name is Jenny. I am 25 years old. I am from Canada. I have two brothers and no sisters. I am a teacher."

Anyone reading the blog can feel free to ask me any questions in by adding a comment.

I am from Canada but have been living in Thailand for the last two years. I started working as an ESL teacher maybe four or five years ago. My first job was at a summer school in Taiwan while I was still at University. For two years, I worked part time for the Montreal School Commission in three high schools, facilitating English activities. Then I worked for a year as a teacher in an English immersion program in a small school in North Western Thailand. I ended up staying on at the school, taking on some more administrative tasks, until recently when I felt the need for a vacation.

I found Paavima on the internet. A Rescue Diver myself, the idea of living and diving in a small town in the South really appealed to me. I am happy to have something to contribute and I love being back in the classroom again.

At the Polhenna school I teach four different groups twice a week. About 25 children (on average) show up for every Age 6 -11 class. The older children often have to attend extra tuition classes for school. There are usually about 15-20 of them. There are about 10 women who come to the women's classes. Some are married, others unmarried, widowed, old and young. We laugh a lot. There are seven men in the men's class, mostly divers from the Paavima project. They are excited to learn, or at least, excited to have a young female teacher. They are always asking me for more classes!

Already almost half my time has gone. I need to get my digital camera out more and take more pictures. Hopefully I will be in touch again, posting more about the project next week!

Settling In

2006-10-31T06:28:00.000+01:00

I arrived in Colombo exhausted. Jason picked me up at the airport and whisked me through the empty night streets of Colombo. I spent most of the next day in a stupor, waiting for immigration to extend my visa and wandering slowly through the streets. The next morning we were up before sunrise, before heat and traffick could choke us, and on the streets, making our way south to Madiha.

Jason is interpreting the landscape for me as we go, telling me about the tsunami, stories about the passenger trains, the government legislation, about people and houses and the path of the great wave. We breakfast at Galle and are installed at the Beach Inn while it is still morning. It's nice to have a place to rest for awhile. And rest is exactly what I need.

For the rest of the week, with the help of Indika and a local community member, Mr. Fonseka, we round up the troupes. This only takes a few hours out of every day, at the most, and the rest of my time, I sleep and walk the beach and go for long swims in the ocean. The waves are breaking metres from my door, the food every night is divine. There is always sand between my toes and a nap in the afternoon in the hammock between the cocount trees.

I propose to start work on Monday, so on Sunday we need to clear a space. Some women in the community volunteer to help me and so we find ourselves at the ruins of the Polhenna school, just across the way from the Paavima Dive Shack.

As you can see from the photos, parts of the classrooms have been completely laid to ruin by the tsunami. There is a new school being built next door and for now, all the rooms of the old school are empty and full of rubbish. It looks as if someone is living in part of the building. I select a long, open hall for the classes. There is a blackboard at either end. The floor is concrete, but missing in patches.

They tell me that it used to be the village green, where children played sports. Now there is a pile of rocks there and big machinerary noisily moving the rocks to cover the beaches and the turtle's egg laying places for some reason only the government really knows about. We have to climb over the heaps of jagged rock to get to the classroom.

One of the empty rooms seems to be a kind of wharehouse for the furniture. The women and I carefully extract rusty old chairs and broken tables from the piles and send them over to a tap where another woman does her best to wash them. I am soon covered in sweat and rust, walking carefully along the floor where panes of glass have broken to avoid accidents in my silly little sandals.

It doesn't take too long. In the end we have about thirty chairs of various sizes and we have salvaged about nine desks. The women set these up in rows as neat and orderly as the uneven floor and the rusted furniture allows. I smile to myself. "I'll soon be changing that," I think. We haven't really said much to each other, my Singhala is nonexistant. But we have smiled a lot and laughed in the sunshine, and carried things together.

It's a good start, as far as I'm concerned, looking around at this strange place where I will be teaching English conversation for the next two months. The first general meeting for all students is on Monday and I am excited and nervous to see who will come and what will result...

(Photos: 1. Polhenna school. 2. Mr. Fonseka and a few of my students outside the school. 3. Village women helping to clean tables and chairs at the school. 4.Damaged classroom from the tsunami. 5. Storeroom from which we extracated chairs. 6. My new classroom)

paavima's first official dm!!

2006-06-09T20:15:00.000+02:00

vlad writes:
just got news that indika's dm application got approved by padi, and that it very generously donated the corresponding fees.

so please help me send indika a big group hug and a very loud hari hondai!!!

as of now, indika is padi divemaster number 487792. hopefully we'll be able to make his dream of becoming a padi instructor a reality in the upcoming season.

----------------------

jason writes:
Wow, Indika you are the man! Well done. I now hope this will provide an
incentive for the rest of Madiha to strive to become DM's too.

----------------------

topher writes:
Yay, Indika!!!!

----------------------

phil writes:
Sweet! He got it before me. hahaha... (vlad: it only took phillythefish 3 years to get his...)

----------------------

bill writes:
that's awesome....congrats!

----------------------

salvador writes:
YEAH INDIKA MY FREIND
Cool!! Big boy now eh!!
Miss you buddy!!!

----------------------

chamipike writes:
Excellent buddy. "Niyamai!!" Good luck on your PADI career. Even though
I am not there physically, I'm always having an eye on all of yours'
success. A big thanks to Vlad, Phil, Salvador and the group. (you guys
are doin a remarkable job)

(Once) your translator

----------------------

wish you could have been there.

2006-04-27T17:41:00.000+02:00

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?

A Donation from the Web Site. February 21, 2006

2006-02-21T17:11:00.000+01:00

February 21, 2006
A Donation from the Web Site
It's so easy... Hi folks, just got our first donation through the web site from an Hopkins pal of mine, Ming for 2500 rupees...I think, at some point in the near future, each of us needs to make a push at our friend network to raise some money for paavima.org. All of us (at least the local crew) have agreed now, that new donations will only be used for material needs of the local operation...equipment, etc...Not travel or lodging. It really doesn't make sense to spend 1000 bucks on one of our tickets, when that single payment can set up an entire operation here. If we want to raise money for travel, we should do that individually and not use Paavima.org directly do to so. If any of you take issue with this, please say so. I think the local crew has signed off on it as has Kirk and Jason. So the engines have been picked up...let's hope there is money right behind them.

Other news is that many of the guys are taking off for Kalwella near Trino...already about 6 have left with more on the way. So I'm not sure how much off season training can happen...but I know a few are staying including Indika, Chamlie etc...

There is lots of talk in the village about the donation of 14 boats/engines and 70 tanks by SOS Malta in Polhena. The talk is that Madiha didn't get any because of the dive shack that we have set up. (The locals call it the dive center...) I have explained this to Thusita and others that this is not true...And to prove it I called Claudia in front of him and spoke with her. I really don't think they're donating equipment in the right way...everyone here knows that it's doing to be a dive operation for the Polhena Reef Garden hotel, which she's calling it a 'foundation for the community'. We'll see how many of 14 boats are left at the end of the season. Today I went diving with Charles, Prins and Chamlie.

Today I wanted to head towards Dondra and after running into Damit on the water, we headed out with them. The water around Matara is very interesting as even though the river is largely stagnant, it has quite a wide delta extending more than Km out into the ocean. Today prins explained something that makes perfect sense...A westerly breeze means diving near Madiha will be terrible...easterly means it will be good. Today the wind was going lightly west so we headed to about 2 KM of Dondra lighthouse. I called it Rubble Reef although 'Reef' is a bit of a stretch...lots of height, boulders and many fish...lots of splotches of what looks to be new coral growth, if I didn't know any better. So that, a few big lobsters, a giant red lionfish and a couple dozen man-o-wars, and the day was over. So now we have 3 way points and counting.

Tomorrow I have scheduled a meeting with the guest house owners of the area. We'll talk about the shack, the commission system and the business model. In exchange for their cooperation, I have guaranteed them a web presence. At sign in, they will fill out a form with information about their guest house, which we will list on our web site. I have visited about 12 of them and met most of the owners, all were friendly of course. But there has been talk that the dive shack will take away business, so that is something to be sensitive to. I'll let you know how it goes...

Tomorrow a river trip with Roshan...He just got accepted on to an oil tanker bound for Dubai. It's big money for him and he's tremendously excited...it'll be sad to see him go, but it's such a great opportunity. Ok, that's all for now. Phil
February 21, 2006

Egos and Philanthropy. February 16, 2006

2006-02-16T17:10:00.000+01:00

Egos and Philanthropy
The below message was one I sent back at the beginning of the project, where we went around and around for weeks about picking a damn name. At the time I felt very strongly that people were using this effort as an outlet for their own personal gain and creativity and my frustration and anger came through on this email. In retrospect, it makes interesting reading. -Phil
-----
Ok ok...I'm the odd man out again...
This isn't a brand we're talking about, nor some useless .com (which I also have experience in)...it's helping people! Branding ourselves I see motivated by ego. That and self promotion are fundamentally incompatible with philanthropy folks. Ask yourselves, if you weren't able to tell anyone else in the world what you've been doing with Madiha and Kirk and Jason, would you still have come?
If we need to resort to catchy-name or over-sexed-marketing efforts to raise money, than we should re-evaluate what is it that we are trying to accomplish...because the mission statement of "improving living conditions through the creation of a sustainable and eco-friendly local tourist economy" doesn't require branding...it requires awareness and communication...Francesca knows this better than anyone after arranging all this with a bunch of passionate emails/convos and a few toothy smiles! Now selling inflatable sheep on the web or funding Sally Struthers' rehab trips to Africa...that requires every trick in theook.
Many volunteer projects, including one major one on which I have worked, don't have the benefit of web designers, videographers etc.....and the fact is, the projects get done. Now I'm not tooting horns, I'm just providing a data point...For the village in Nepal, we've raised over $250K and spent it on things like tele-teaching, inter-village networking, fish-farming, duck incubators, 2 telemedicine installations and a brand new high school for 200 people, all without worrying about a domain name, a team name, blogs, business cards, or a documentaries. All donations were raised by a) well placed phone calls or conversations followed by b) quantitative and highly detailed proposals with explicit budgets, time-lines and resource constraints. The latter was far moremportant to the aid agencies (WHO). Donated dollars are not spent on promotion, and whenever volunteers show up, they are put to work. When promotion is done, it was done by those volunteers who wereff-line/site in response to a specific Request For Proposal (RFP) from a possible funding agency. Priorities dictated that all local hands wereeeded for building houses or connecting wires...every dollar went directly to necessary material cost...labor was provided free from volunteers who paid their own way.
Nuff said, I've never needed to call myself anything or have been part of a catchy team to make a difference. I am very proud to be working with so many creative people in this project...I just think we all need to counter-balance our natural tendency to gravitate to areas in which are experts with the bigger list of priorities. In my case, there areany more important things to be done other than developing our IT infrastructure, most of which I have only the slightest idea about how to accomplish 8-), thus I need to spend my time on them.
So instead of abstaining, I vote to leave it as it is...ScubaPOP, even thought I have been overheard saying it sounds 'gay' 8-)...in the hopes that we'll get back to other work.
-Phil
P.S. If you care or are interested....
www.nepalwireless.net www.himanchal.org
February 16, 2006
Donation for a Boat Ladder!
So some news, which you may have already heard. But Indika got us this dutch guy who we took diving from the shack. He did 2 dives, each of 3 guys on the boat made 800 rupees and the shack made about that also. Hey had such a good time and, since he was a philanthropist himself, he donated 200 euro to us, waving us down as we were speeding off in a tuktuk. (To fix the flat tire of the bike and do some other bits in town.) He said to put it towards a boat ladder, which we will, as well as other needs of the shack. I've already bought the stainless steel and met with a metal smith, courtesy of indika's help of course.
Last night, Mahesh took the money from us (400$) for the engine. SO it appears a done deal. I was told by my sources that he went out and spend 1000 of it on a Arak party...of course. Anyways, we know have a solid engine and it's the fastest on the beach. This latter point is actual a source of grief, since the boatmen seem to have no concept of the word 'throttle'.
Tomorrow I'm supposed to go on a boat trip with Roshan 'up the river'...one of the activities of the shack is bird watchin' and croc spotin'. We'll see if it happens...These guys do not have calendars and as such, 2 days from now may as well be next year.
That's all for now.
Phil
February 16, 2006

Encounter with the Cement Guy. February 16, 2006

2006-02-16T17:09:00.000+01:00

Encounter with the Cement Guy
More news folks, I'm feeling verbose these days...this is what happens if you lock up a perfectly good engineer with 2 creatives.
Vlad finished up four more guys today on Open Water...Salvador and I DM'ing for him. We also met with the guys about rescue course and everything else related...
Other news, as of the party the other night, I was talking with Mahesh and he mentioned he had an engine, a 25 HP gas one that was not used very much. It was his brothers and naturally they were selling it because a) they were given a new one by a different NGO and b) it runs on gasoline which is no good for the fisherman as it reduces their profit margin. Anyways I jumped on it, since we are desperate and arranged a trial run today during our dives. (2 boats...) The engine ran beautifully and even started on the first pull...As opposed to my harrowing experience being burned to near bacon the first time because of Thusita's 'reliable kerosene engines'. Everyone knows kerosene is for lamps not engines. 8-) Anyways, Salvador can certainly be happy because if I hadn't had 2 glasses of Arack punch as well as 2 beers, I probably wouldn't have been as verbal with my frustrations. So thanks to Salvador for that one...Who needs Norwegian girls? Oh yeah...we do! One other thing about the party, Srinath happen to catch me at the beginning looking rather forlorn at the lack of Scandinavian females bearing hard currency in hand...He came over to me and said in the Srinath voice "Pheeel! Don't worry! Leeetle-bit, leetle bit. First we get 2, then we get 4. Step by step, step by step." Srinath, in his own wisdom, just slapped me upside the head with a) my very own words and b) absolute impeccable timing. ;-)
Anyways, Jason agreed that this engine was best so we can move forward with everything and we don't have to wait. So Jason will basically loan Paavima.org the 400-500$ until we raise money. The list of loans is getting longer...sooner or later we're going to have to stop the hemmorhage of money...Vlad and I are putting in for the 100$ sign, Salvador basically funded the finishing of the shack and I'm ponying up for the cement lock box still to be built by salvador in the shack. The funny thing is, no one minds, because we're so f******g close to making it all come together. Yes, divemasters are still a ways off, but you guys are one course away from starting their training.
Last week, the three of us got together to see what we could do to stop the loss of spirit around here...both amongst ourselves and amongst the students...all of us were amicable, but privately there was not a good feeling and everyone was somewhat disappointed in each other. I feel, and I can say this because I am the 'negative' one of the group, that we really have recaptured some spirit. We all agreed that MOMENTUM was the only thing we could do...we couldn't change anyone elses feelings about the project, only our own. In doing so, we also changed their perspective...for the time being; no guarantees for next week of course, but then, does next week really matter when your living on the southern coast of Sri Lanka?
Enjoy.
Philip
P.S. Oh yes, I have to tell you the craziest Sri Lanka story yet...better than that nurse jamming hemostats into my toe. So I went to the cement brick shop the other day to order some bricks for Salvador's storage bin. The young man came out and in between pricing bricks, he kept saying 'I like you' which I ignored. So later I SMS'd him the exact details of the transaction, and these are the SMS's I received in return, copied directly from my phone. I've only corrected the english and spelling where absolutely necessary.
Kamal: "I can supply your order. But I want to meet you. Therefore please come our home tomorrow morning. Everything will change very soon. But I like "idantyfaive"(?) you. Can you be a friend of mine?"

Kamal: Did you give a my SMS kamal? Never forget me.

Kamal: I came to see you. But I can't find where do you stay.

Kamal: You are very handsome. I need you. Do you want me? But don't misunderstand me, only I like you and your body. Please come to our home tomorrow morning. I'm Kamal. Take care.
Phil: Thank you for the compliments. But I only like women. I will come tomorrow morning to order the cement.
(Planning on bringing Salvador as insurance...)
Kamal: I like your "humens"(?). Therefore I want to do a love someone. Can u help me? I like meet your a good friend. But I'm very afraid. If u can think about my work, I believe that you wont misunderstand me. Ok, bye. Sweet dreams. Sorry disturb you.
Needless to say I didn't make it...I went diving instead. ;-)
Phil Mucci
February 16, 2006

Today was a good day......February 07, 2006

2006-02-07T17:08:00.000+01:00

From Phil:
Today was a good day......
"And I didn't even have to use my A.K." -Ice Cube
(an entry from Phil Mucci the resident dmc and super-rennaisaance man)
Yes, you know I hate long emails, so this will be short, but some worthwhile things happened today.
1) Vladimirs EFR course with the guys is finished. After the session, the guys took the exam and I'm pretty damn sure they passed. I received numerous comments that indicated they actually understood my english, for I was hanging about during the grading of the exam, adding explanations where possible. The actual comment was "We can understand you because you speak slow." A lesson for you fast talking slicksters...
The students in the EFR class were:
Mahesh
Indika G
Indika
Buddika
Charles
Ravindra
Prince
Chamin
Sameera
Srinath
Jayanthadas
Roshan
Gamini
Chamlie
2) Salvador cold-sold a group of Norwegian 20 year olds on having a party at the shack late night. He's out preparing for it now with the girls...The plan? Make money the old fashioned way...Sell booze. Then, as with any good drinking establishment, the staff will attempt to seduce the patrons. I'm hoping and praying they show up because Salvador really went the extra mile on this one.
3) Met with Nick from Adopt Sri Lanka, the agency from Weligama. He informally promised to look into donating us one of the used engines they collect from the fisherman (after they give them new ones). They do not seem very keen on giving us direct donations of gear or money, but this guy is a low one on the totem pole. He took a bunch of flyers as well as the latest project overview (attached, many more edits coming), to his boss Sharon. She is the hired gun of the rich brit who owns the whole show. Nick was asking for some information around about who needs what to make sure their donations don't end up 'Anora-ized' or sold. I will speak with him later in the week. Anyways, yet another engine lead...
4) Managed to get the web site out to Topher. To install it just takes two commands hopefully...I'm the only one with email from Madiha at the moment, but Salv and Vlad have been using the cafes, so have patience with their responses. Hey Topher, can you get this up this week? Oh Please? (In my best Ren and Stimpy voice...)
5) Salvador went to check on the BIG sign we have for the shack, which Vladdy and I are splitting and he sez it looks bad-azz. Should be up by the week.
6) After much banter, Salvador and I agreed that the best thing (i.e. cheapest) for a lockable container for the shack is a cement and brick structure with a steel top that opens. The other options are too darn expensive...
Ok, this email is 243.7621 words too long, so I'm leaving now.
Phil
February 07, 2006

Terney Pradeep Kumara - The Resident Marine Biologist Reports. December 01, 2005

2005-12-01T17:07:00.000+01:00

BEFORE THE PROJECT
I’ve been conducting researching on coral reefs since year 2000. I mainly observe the coral distribution patterns; larval settlement patterns, coral diversity, threat levels, and I have also performed some coral transplants in order to restore coral reefs. Then, all of a sudden the Dec 26th incident (the tsunami) changed everything. Not only our research projects, but also our life patterns, our wishes, our future, our determinations, our attitudes, almost everything.
Rivers of aid flowed towards us, covering major areas such as food supply, water, electricity, transport, communication and all other infrastructures. This was ra tremendous relief to the affected people. I happened to work with most of these donors in their charity work. All focused and determined to do whatever possible to lessen the damage caused to the human lives.
As a marine biologist, I wanted to do something with nature. At the very beginning, I was able to participate in several reef and beach cleanups, which involved a number of dive operations. We were able to collect heaps of debris from the sea floor and bring them to the shore, then transport the debris to the proper dumpsites. But it was not enough to heal the natural surroundings. There still remains a lot to be collected and removed.
At the same time I wanted to help and uplift the living standards of poor fishermen who indeed needed help and backups. I was searching for all available sources to make my idea a reality. At one meeting in Colombo, Dr. Hiran Jayawardane from IOMAC (The Indian Ocean Marine Affaires Cooperation) asked me to meet a group coming to Sri Lanka for an underwater monument project and I accepted the invitation.
The REAL JOURNEY BEGINS
I met Francesca Koe and Jason Firmin in BMICH, Colombo with Dr. Hiran and some other officers from various institutes. At the meeting we briefly discussed the program and then Dr. Hiran asked me to take them over and go ahead with the project. Jason & Francesca asked me to meet them at the Turtle Point in Madiha, Matara on the following day. So I came to Matara and went searching for a place called ‘Turtle Point’ but could not locate any place called turtle point in Madiha and therefore went back to the university without any luck. But upon the same day, later that evening I went back to Madiha and asked everyone I met about ‘a couple of Americans’ who came to Madiha the day before. Finally, finally I was able to meet Francesca and then eventually Vlad and then Tom and then Bill. It was a short but very encouraging meeting!!
After that we met for several times and shared a lot during our meetings. Their expertise and philosophy really aligned perfectly with mine. I shared all of my knowledge and field experiences to help make the program a success. We discussed the present situation, the problems, advantages we have, the way to move forward. As far as I understood, I was able to give them a real picture of the situation here as a biologist and field researcher, which indeed helped a lot to alter their plans according to the local situation.
I was able to really get involved in the ScubaPOP! (see www.scubasf.com) program by translating, explaining theories to dive students, making links with the university, assisting with dive site selecting for the UW monument, and finally Underwater mapping. I know I have truly enjoyed working with such a smart and dedicated group. It really surprised me to learn so much in such a short time period. The Madiha fishermen - our dive students - also enjoy and benefit from my presence in the project. Each and everyday I have to give them many explanations to their questions. These questions are usually related to safe diving and their mode of life as fish collectors. Sometimes it was very hard for them to absorb, and very hard for me to explain some of the physics theories involved in diving, but there was no way to tell it to them except through examples. Then they realized what actually it was.
OUR FIELD VISITS
Diving with Francesca, Tom, Vlad, Phil and Christopher was very interesting and exciting. During the dive with Tom Yang, I observed all his movements, camera handling and his calm and quite behaviour under water. I have a lot to learn from him, especially underwater photography that I so much love to do. Underwater mapping was also good. Since it was a labour involved process we didn’t have any time to enjoy the underwater environment. Low visibility, underwater currents and high surge made that task more and more difficult.
I also still recall really funny moments during our dives. Once Vlad, Christopher and myself went to go mapping. We just dropped Vlad on the top of the site and within a matter of few seconds we saw Vlad was swimming very hard towards the anchor line. He couldn’t make it because of the high surge. Then we had to drag him onto the site again. It was hard for Vlad and even for me because I grabbed his hand during dragging. Finally we dove the site. I did transect while Christopher did the hammering to the iron bar to fix it on to the sand bottom. Suddenly I saw the head flew off from the sledge and Christopher was looking around looking for the detached head. I laughed so much and I nearly drowned! I knew that Christopher too had a good laugh at that time. Ha. Ha. Haaaa..!
The link we have established between this grass-roots project and the university, is an extremely important aspect of the work and truly one of the most critical aspects of what we have achieved so far. All has been laid properly for the collaboration. Both parties will benefit each other through it, getting more and more recognition and local expertise to the project and on the other hand, university will get personnel training and ultimately a university diving school, which was a dream of ours several months ago. We have prepared an excellent overview of the scope of the project for the university, and soon it will be on its way to get final approval.
We have identified myriad objectives abd areas of focus for the project. The first one was a socio-economic survey of the marine ornamental fish industry of the area. I prepared a questionnaire to collect data and Vlad volunteered to search for available data in the Madiha area. At the same time, I will work with other scientists at the university and we will look for the environmental impacts of the project, fish and coral recruitments onto the reef balls, extent of the fishing pressure to the monuments etc etc.
PROGRESS
Days pass by very quickly. Most of the fishermen have completed the open water diver course and they now are taking lessons for the advanced course. I translated a whole PADI final exam to Sinhalese. But unfortunately our students are still are complaining my unreadable handwriting! But I knew that Champike (the volunteer translator) was there, close at hand, to assist them. During the beginning of the advanced course, Brandon gave loads of first hand experience on the medical first aid, an initiative to the first aid medic and rescue diver course. Now the students have realized the enormous advantages they have ahead of them and the future they can enjoy through this project. It is a good sign for a secure future for project objectives.
Now we are about to complete the underwater mapping for the site. Vlad will come soon and the second part of the training will begin. Students are eagerly waiting for his return. I too will join the course from the rescue diver course. At the end of the first phase of the program, I will be a dive master. Ultimately I would like to become a dive instructor if the program environment allows me to go for it. I know I have the capacity and passion to achieve that daunting task.
The whole program started out of complete darkness. Nothing clear. But gradually the light of courage, dedication and wisdom has cleared the path. I know our group will go through it giving a wonderful future for the students and also to the Madiha village.
HEY YOU! FRANCESCA, JASON, TOM, PHIL, VLAD, CHRISTOPHER AND BRANDON
You are such a great group of people – some of the best I’ve ever met. I know your dedication to make this event a reality. We will always be proud to have you in our community and to work together with a professional group like you. We have become a single bunch, sweating for a single goal. Soon we’ll be able to leave a visible sign of courage for the world – this project is truly a good example of collective effort, great teamwork and dedication. As a single individual person, I’m really happy to become a partner and will always give all of my courage, and determination to all of you for the very best of the program.
Millions of regards,
Terney Pradeep Kumara
December 01, 2005

Crossing the finish line. November 17, 2005

2005-11-17T17:06:00.000+01:00

Vladimir Soto regales us with the latest success in Madiha:
so it happened! yesterday at around 4:30ish we finished all the requirements for open water for 19 students. please put your hands together for the following guys:
gamini
indika muna singhe
amila
prins
damith
mahesh
srinath
jayanthadas
indika g
ravindra
chathuranga
janaka
vajira
roshan
indika pradeep buddhika
tushara
chamin
oksman

christopher and i are in the midst of a happy dance and no, you can'tsee pictures of that.

the gods, definitely in poya mood, were feeling groovy and the weatherwas the best it's been in probably two weeks. we did half the guys on the 15th and the rest on the 16th, yesterday. with the last group we had only one boat and made two trips. on the second one the weather changed so abruptly and drastically we were on the verge of canceling the dive, but decided to take a chance given the guys' excellent skill level and the fact that we had only one more skill to go, cesa. alas, we made the right choice and we have now 19 newly certified open water students amongst the team's ranks.

please wear your undies backwards or whatever other good luck practice you keep in your treasure boxes so we'll be able to see them all the way through the divemaster program.

the guys that won't be able to make it this round are thusitha and wedage. wedage will hopefully finish up with the university students. as soon as i come back from india probably around nov26, i'll set up independent study groups. these will consist of a few university students plus madiha divers. this way i can audit the classes instead of trying to figure out a few dozen people i need to coordinate to be in the same place at the same time for classes along with the essential translators. hopefully thusitha 2 will be able to get certified on the next round. having the university students help us out with the study groups will alleviate my time constraints while keeping the classes moving.

as for the memorial mapping, phil was able to go out with terney two mornings ago and made some progress. the conditions were not good. one meter visibility and a lot of surge. we still need to do one more outing to finish the map. hopefully terney will be able to take care of that next week with a couple of our newly certified divers.

all this wouldn't have been possible, of course, without the brilliant fairy dust francesca has incessantly sprinkled over the project first to get it going after answering j&k's call for action, secondly to get most of us here and thirdly to get the madiha guys sitting squarely and attentively through hours of classes, scared her whip might crack too close to their behinds. tom, thank you, thank you, for the great video footage and letting us learn some good teaching tips while we saw you teach. brandon, your logbook will forever be an inspiration for these guys. you should have seen their faces light up when christopher told them yesterday's entries were the first step to getting their logs to look like yours.

sorry for the amateurish large file slip. arak made me do it. it's just the ball shirts meant to make you smile. here they are again as small gifs. btw, as per rachel who is studying sinhalese, the correct spelling should be pahvima.

November 17, 2005

A translator's point of view. November 08, 2005

2005-11-08T17:05:00.000+01:00

Expert translator Champike Yatagama shares his experience as a ScubaPOP! team member and a native Sri Lankan...
“Give a man a fish and he will live for a day, Teach a man to fish and he will live for a lifetime!”
Above is a Chinese proverb and when I first heard about the ScubaPOP! Project, this proverb came to my mind. I was simply impressed with the dedication, strength and the organizing capabilities of these diving trainers and experts. I would like to add my comments as a Sri Lankan who is involved in this project as a part-time volunteer translator.
-- BACKGROUND
On 26th of December last year, fierce Tsunami waves hit the coastal lines of Sri Lanka so hard that within minutes over 30, 000 precious human lives, assets worth of millions of Rupees were gone like the wind. Some lost almost all their family members, their properties and the sources of income. Most impact was for the people who lived closer to sea. Although time healed the wound to some extent, most of them are still struggling to rebuild their lives. Although their stories of determination and rebuilding are not in the headlines of the papers, still they need some assistance and assurance. But I would most humbly like to recall with gratitude the mammoth Tsunami aids we received from the rest of the world at the hour of need. The government, charity institutes, NGO’s are still executing major projects to support the innocent community who were affected by this massive tragedy.
-- HOW I GOT INVOLVED
About 3, 4 months back I received an e-mail from one of my friends. It requested for volunteer translators for a project at a village called Madiha in the southern part of the country. Actually I am employed in Colombo and only go home in weekends. My home is situated in Galle which is about 45 kms from Madiha. Therefore I hardly had any chance to join as a translator. But then again I needed to help them since their objective and purpose was genuine and without a translator at least for the first few days the whole project will be crippled. So I decided to join them. I took 5 days off from my office and dedicated it totally for the Scuba project. Frankly, when I received the above e-mail I didn’t know what scuba or padi meant! ☺
I also organized a team of backup translators who live a bit closer by to Madiha to make sure that the ScubaPOP! Experts will not run out of translator resources when I’m away. The total scheduling, planning phases were done via email only.
-- FINALLY THEY ARRIVE
Francesca arrived on 19th Oct and she straightaway headed South with Jason. We decided to start the course on 20th. So I took leave and left for Galle on 19th night. As agreed I met both of them at the Beach Inn restaurant. (Even though we haven’t met before, I felt very familiar since we had already communicated a lot via Email/phone calls) Anupa –from my backup translator squad also joined us. We had about 20 students and they were so eager to listen to us. It was a real challenge for me since I had to explain the diving basics (which I had zero knowledge), scientific explanations, ethics to a group of students in a digestible format. But Within hours I understood that we are delivering the goods. I could create an environment where they would understand all what Francesca explained plus her comments on what they tell about their experiences, beliefs. Then Tom joined us and he too, like Francesca, is very kind hearted and was never tired to devote time and energy for the students. After the first 5 days I only came in weekends and later I met Vlad, Phil, Sean, Christopher and Brandon. They were all equal to the task and so kind and patient with the students. In the weekdays where I wasn’t there for translation, Indika and Anupa/Danuka was there to serve the purpose. Indika was special because he happened to be one of the students and had some educational background.
-- THE RELATIONSHIP
The diving experts were very kind to the students and I know how much the students loved them. They are very poor but they always treat them with the broad smile- the biggest asset they had- plus the nodding of head which speaks thousand words. Francesca was a like a mother to them and I heard that she had cried on the day she left them last week. They still talk about her with so much appreciation. The students went frequently to their house (let’s call it ‘white house’) and they had film screenings, parties, BBQ’s, dancing and also educational sessions. (Unfortunately I missed all functions at the white house ☹ ).
It is important to note here what students think on the education. They told me that they were diving for years without such knowledge and now they understand the scientific aspects, the safety precautions and so on. It was evident to me that they had experienced some illnesses earlier due to the lack of knowledge on surface resting times in multiple diving. When the experts explained on the symptoms of some illnesses they were so much contributing with facts because they had experienced what they were explaining. ☺ That was only one example. As translators we know the enthusiasm that these students were displaying. The white house was like a home to them and they know that they can meet some living angels there.
-- A DINNER I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER
Due to my tight schedule I was not able to sit for a lunch/dinner with them still. My wife, her sisters, our parents were very eager to meet the team and Francesca too was interested to meet my family, specially my 6-months old son. So I invited them to dinner at my wife’s place and Francesca, Vlad and Indika came there. It was an evening to remember. I showed them the small cliffs, tea estates and flowers and they were always pressing their digital cams for captures. The house was a bit on the land side and I knew that they enjoyed these green sceneries. They were very keen to talk to my family members and my son had a great time going to the hands of an uncle and an aunty from USA. They even watched the VCD of my wedding which was indeed a special event for them. I am sure they enjoyed what we prepared for them for dinner. It was a special evening for everybody and my loved ones praised highly of the two kind hearted Americans.
-- TIME GOES ON
The exam was on last Saturday (5th) and the guys got an opportunity to prove that they were grabbing the basics to the perfection. Everybody took 80+ and as expected Indika topped the batch with 92%. They were so happy due to the fact that they were making the instructors really proud. They were looking at the 3 boats since they know that the new engines to accompany the boats might be on the way by now! (It was a promise by Francesca before the test ☺)
I should note that I am really proud to join this special breed of hard-working, intellectual, friendly, kind hearted experts. They are still as energetic today as they were on day one, and there is tons to learn from them.
Scuba experts, ISTHUTHI!!! ( thank you in Sinalese)- on be half of the villagers at Madiha.
Have a nice day!
Regards/Champike
November 08, 2005

High Scores and big smiles! November 05, 2005

2005-11-05T17:04:00.000+01:00

Hooray! I just got the best news ever - all of our lovely students in Madiha have passed their final exam! They studied and worked extremely hard and they succeeded. I could not be happier. The whole team could not be happier - big thanks to Brandon, Phil and Christopher who executed the test this morning. And of course, tremendous thanks to Champike Yatagama who has been our fearless and dedicated expert translator. He has been so amazing and so helpful - none of this would have been possible without him. The students all scored better than 80% on their final PADI exam, which is not only a huge accomplishment in and of itself, but even more astounding considering the language barrier we have all had to overcome.
This is simply a testament to how smart and capable our friends in Madiha are.
Just for posterity the scores out of 50 questions are as follows:
- Indika G. got 46 right out of 50
- Chamin, Jayanthadas, Vajira, Janaka, and Prins got 44 right out of 50
- Buddhika, Thushara, Damit, Indika Muna Singhe and Mahesh got 43 right out of 50
- Amila, Indika Pradeep, Roshan, Ravindra and Srinath got 42 right out of 50
- Gamini and Chathuranga got 41 right out 50
- Wedage and Oksman got 40 right out of 50
We are all smiling really big, inside and out :)
Today is an exceptionally great day. Now we can deliver those new engines....
Francesca

A little bit of luck and a carrot. November 04, 2005

2005-11-04T17:01:00.000+01:00

Being at the right place at the right time has proven to be everything here on this trip.
As our good luck would have it, Jason Firmin and Kirk Jobz (the CEO of mailman) and I were invited to Nerissa Pope's house for tea on the same afternoon that the Programme Director from SOS Malta was invited, as well as some reporters from the BBC. SOS Malta is a non-profit that is focused on helping poor people in commonwealth countries get back on their own feet, and most specifically, in rural areas that are underserved. So when Nerissa introduced us to Claudia and then asked us to share our project's news we gladly regaled her with the objectives, successes and challenges of our mission to date.
Within a matter of 5 hours ( no we weren't blabbing for that long) Claudia was on board to provide us with 3 brand new boats and 3 brand new engines for our needy fishermen/divers. What a coup!
We were ecstatic! As Kirk put it "Malta ROCKS!" Indeed the boats would not only come in handy for current reconnaissance diving trips, fishing for the villagers, but also in the future to be used by researchers, students and tourists alike. So we decided it would make the most sense to put the 3 boats into the villagers use as a cooperative. Teams would be assigned to specific boats for care and maintenance, young divers with experienced fishermen,so people could take turns both teaching and learning new skills from one another. We want the villagers to be accountable and responsible for these boats, and eventually their own livelihood. We hope to not only make the system sustainable but to also cut out the middle men. Currently Thusita, the head 'diver' of the village not only risks his life to collect ornamental fish for a pittance, but then has to pay the evil fish company a leasing fee for the decrepit boat they have him using. So not only is he not getting paid a fair wage, but to add insult to injury they are gauging his miniscule wages. For this reason alone we are thrilled to have new boats so the fisherman can start to take home more money.
Of course, as a good teacher I have created an incentive program for this as well. There is a big test coming up on Saturday - so I have been teasing my students that they will only get the new outboard engines for their new fiberglass boats when they pass this final academic test! A little carrot never hurt anyone :)
We had two more media interviews today in colombo -- a follow up with the reporter from the Sunday Times ( Marissa De Silva) and a first time interview with John Atwell, who is the editor of Machang Magazine and a writer for Reuters. The more press we can get the more awareness and funding we hope we can raise.
Being away from the water training sessions today has made me antsy! I am dying to know what progress my students have made. Yes, I am turning into a bit of a mother hen but I can't help it, those smiling faces have all snuck their way into my heart.
Francesca
November 04, 2005

Some New Arrivals. November 01, 2005.

2005-11-01T16:48:00.000+01:00

Francesca Writes:
Today at 6:30 in the morning Christopher Chin and Brandon Bond arrived in the village. Jet-lagged and weary, they dutifully followed me along as I began to tour them through the village, the training dive site and the school. Kirk and Jason had picked up our two new volunteers from colombo and drove them here, down south, on the perilous and circuitous route that is the journey to Madiha.

Just this past Friday, Brandon (an assistant instructor) had literally jumped from one plane (returning from his segment of recovery work in new orleans as a disaster preparedness manager for Kaiser P.) to another plane to join us in our training mission. I think he is still overwhelmed from the extreme sensory overload of NOLA, and now we are giving him even more to digest. Poor guy. Like me, he too was greeted in sri lanka by the curious occurrence of missing baggage. But we have our fingers crossed that all of his clothing and personal belongings will arrive sometime soon.

I cannot believe that my three weeks are nearly up. It has gone by so quickly, and is a bit surreal. I have developed a deep connection with these people, one that is very palpable and real. It will be bittersweet to leave. But I know that Christopher and Brandon will definitely try to carry on our metaphorical baton.

Today we will be continuing our open water session with the young divers at our makeshift dive site. Vlad and I will be showing Christopher and Brandon the ropes so they can 'dive in' tomorrow.

The training dive site is located about 50 meters out from shore (compass reading of 270 degrees), in front of one of two local hotels called the Sabine, which is owned by a super friendly guy named Anhoura (sp?). It is not a very deep site and it is very surgey, but it is serving our purposes for the time being. We have fashioned a few rocks, as our anchor/sand screws, a yellow nylon cord as our descent line, and two blue plastic fuel bottles are acting as our float. Ingenuity and creativity abound! We have to take advantage of high tide at 2:00 in the afternoon so we get the most out of our depth - a variance of 3-4 meters maximum.

We have named the site Paramuwala, which means 'mullet fish well' in Sinhalese. This is how the locals refer to this particular area, although CDC instructor Tom Yang and I discovered a whole family of huge spotted rays when we were first exploring the site while skin diving.

The morning students are the younger students in our class - Ravindra, Thushara, Buddhika, Chathuranga, Osman, Jayantha da, and Inidka G. The names and the pronunciation of these names are now all very familiar but were definitely a challenge when I first arrived.

Tomorrow we will begin the open water training of the older fisherman; many have some dive experience, but they all need to be retrained as their current diving methods are risky at best. The good news is that they are very eager to learn and are extremely comfortable in the water.

And since both Kirk and Jason are here in town we are having a big party with the students tonight. What this essentially means is that lots of Arrack will be poured and consumed. Arrack is the local tequila of choice - liquor made of coconut and sugar - trust me when I say it is an acquired taste and that all of our students are connoisseurs of the Arrack. Their favorite kind is the 'extra special' bottle. What the exact difference is I don't know, but I do know that they absolutely love it.

Since our rental house is now full with the guys, I am giving up my little room and moving over to the Beach Inn, which is where we take all of our meetings and store our perishable goods. I will miss the beautiful and timid King Fisher bird who visits my window every morning.

The Beach Inn is a great little hotel that is owned by Indika G.'s family. Indika G. is a 22-year-old guy who is always smiling and has been a godsend for the project as both an organizer and a translator - he speaks fairly good English. If and when Bill Oakes, the Course Director from CDC, decides to come back next October to conduct an IDC we will certainly put him up at the Beach Inn, since he is a creature of comforts :)

There is much to do before I leave to be able to transition all of the pertinent information over to the new volunteers. And tomorrow I will be presenting our program efforts to a local school for deaf and blind children. A British woman named Nerissa Pope has asked us to present. Nerissa has been instrumental in our program's success because she kindly donated the use of her beautiful pool, so we'd be able to conduct the confined water portion of our training in a calm setting. Nerissa and her husband David live about 2 kilometers north from the center of Madiha in an idyllic house, nestled atop of a beautiful mountain. Nerissa generously volunteers for many local schools.

I will write more as time allows, and perhaps on the plane I will decompress and fill in the details of our daily routines.

Time marches on....
Francesca
November 01, 20

better late than never. 30oct05.

2005-10-30T13:39:00.000+01:00

Better Late Than Never

This Web journal has been admitttedly slow to create. Internet access, is, well, behind the times here in Madiha. We think we've ironed out the wrinkles, however, so please check back often for updates about our scuba activities.

The journal will comprise submissions from a number of members of the scuba training team in Sri Lanka as well as in others areas of the world. We're connected now and the program is building momentum.

For more information about what we're doing, visit paavima.org. We're hoping you join us, at least virtually, and participate, either through comments or even getting directly involved.

Our first post comes from Francesca Koe, one of the team leaders of this ambitious project. You will hear a lot from her as the project evolves.

<>
I can't believe it has been more than two weeks since I arrived here in Madiha/Polhena and that I am only just now getting a chance to write an entry to update everyone of our adventures and challenges here on the south coast of Sri Lanka. It has been a whirlwind to say the least.

After arriving in Colombo Airport I was met by a friendly, albeit, strange face - Jason Firmin. I say strange because although Jason and I have been working tirelessly together for the better part of a year, we had not met each other in person until October 17th. I landed safely after a brutally long trip from Heathrow – I left on a Monday and arrived on a Wednesday and lost two days somewhere in-between London and the Indian Ocean. Unfortunately, one of my bags decided to linger somewhere in that void and was not present for its' Sri Lankan retrieval.

I kept the faith; even though secretly I was frantic because it was the one bag that held the majority of donated equipment for the students. The weeks leading up to the trip were equally as frantic as I was desperately trying to ensure that all of my fellow volunteer PADI instructors (Tom Yang, Christopher Chin, Brandon Bond and Vlad) each would have a confirmed airline ticket to a destination half a globe away.

In these dire situations good friends will always come through in a pinch – thanks to the tremendous generosity of people like Barbara & Eric Hippeau, Kirk McDonald, Scott Murphy and Laura Froelich we were able to transport the scuba gear and the instructors - phew!

So when my big yellow North Face bag didn't show up I remained calm. The good news was that my other two bags actually did. And in the end the yellow bag and its invaluable contents made an appearance 3 days later.

This is typical of life here in Sri Lanka - time has a funny way of operating on it's own agenda - regardless of what your plans are you are destined to take what you get. In other words flexibility is key and you can't fight it; the intangible yet consistent variable of nature ( or some other power) having its way with you is similar to mythical greek gods using humans as pawns in a game of chess.

So time is doing it again, Sean Kelly, our media partner has to leave and take his flash drive with him - so this will be it from me for now.

What you all should know is that the students and villagers are bright, very appreciative and the steps necessary to ensure a healthy future for the village and re-energized reef are well underway.

Stay tuned and keep breathing.
Francesca

October 30, 2005