Velidhoo Future

In February 2012 I spent a month in Velidhoo as a Team Leader volunteer. I experienced a great month with the welcoming VFF team and the Velidhoo community. The locals...Read more

In February 2012 I spent a month in Velidhoo as a Team Leader volunteer. I experienced a great month with the welcoming VFF team and the Velidhoo community. The locals were very cooperative and grateful for our volunteer work and we were able to start a lot of community projects like waste management, education projects with the school and preschool, and do important work for environmental protection and awareness. Velidhoo became a great example for an island in the Maldives which cares about climate change, waste, education, development to protect and promote the beautiful environment of the Maldives, and the VFF volunteer program is a great way to get involved with these projects! I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Velidhoo and I will go back in November :)

Spending 5 months volunteering in Velidhoo has been one of the best and most rewarding experiences of my life. I initially signed up for 3 months as a Marine Conservation...Read more

Spending 5 months volunteering in Velidhoo has been one of the best and most rewarding experiences of my life. I initially signed up for 3 months as a Marine Conservation volunteer but extended my stay a further 2 months because I was having so much fun! Not only have I experienced the wonders of the coral reef ecosystems which Maldives are famous for, I have been up close with reef sharks, manta rays, eagle rays, turtles and so many more beautiful marine creatures. I completed my Advanced Open Water dive qualification during my stay and have enjoyed numerous fishing, diving, picnic and snorkelling excursions. Along with my marine conservation work, I have been largely involved with the local community, in particular the children. They are so happy and friendly and I love hearing them call out my name as I walk down the street! I have been involved in so many different activities in Velidhoo including taking English conversation classes with the grade 4 & 5 students at the Noonu Atoll Education Centre, making special presentations to the Fisheries Science class and scout groups, and I also started a learn to swim program with the local preschool, which has now extended to adult and school-aged classes too. It is so rewarding to see the children improving their swimming skills and I will miss them all so much. I have made new lifelong friends with not only other volunteers from all around the world, but also with the locals of Velidhoo. Huge thanks to the VFF crew and Lazy Gecko dive for all of their support during my stay. Velidhoo is my second home and I will be sure to return soon!

I arrived in Velidhoo on 7th June via the night ferry and was met at the jetty by the other volunteers and members of Velidhoo Future Foundation (VFF). Straight away...Read more

I arrived in Velidhoo on 7th June via the night ferry and was met at the jetty by the other volunteers and members of Velidhoo Future Foundation (VFF). Straight away I saw how friendly the local people were, especially the children, as they spoke with the other volunteers. I came to Velidhoo for the Marine Conservation volunteer program, which allowed me to complete my Advanced Open Water certification with Ingrid and Afrah at the Lazy Gecko Dive centre. The dives sites around Velidhoo are beautiful with lots of different Marine life. During my dives I saw lots of turtles, stingrays, eagle rays, a manta and a SHARK! As well as diving to collect FishWatch data for the Marine Research Centre, I was involved in other community events and projects such as the VFF community football tournament, English classes, swimming lessons and building the community garden. The days pass very quickly when you get involved in the activities as we always have so much fun. I even played a little football during the comedy match of the tournament, which was very funny!

Going to the Maldives isnt all about work, on our free days we went for picnic's and snorkelling trips to uninhabited islands where we would drink coconut water from fresh young coconut and laze in the sun. I also got to try wake boarding which was of course very cool. Needless to say my month volunteering in the Maldives passed quickly, in which i cherish every moment, with a lot of great people. The weather and ocean was of course beautiful and I will definitely be coming back to Velidhoo again soon.

I first set my eyes on beautiful Velidhoo as the N.Velidhoo Concord Express was docking at the jetty. Since I’d never been to the Maldives, I was apprehensive of life...Read more

I first set my eyes on beautiful Velidhoo as the N.Velidhoo Concord Express was docking at the jetty. Since I’d never been to the Maldives, I was apprehensive of life on the island, the locals and the other volunteers.
During the month I spent there, my expectations were more than surpassed.
I went to Velidhoo for the Marine Conservation Programme and passed my PADI Advanced Open Water Certificate with the help of my instructor Afrah from Lazy Gecko Dive Centre. I then moved on to fish watch with Ingrid from the Dive Centre, which consists of collecting data that is then sent to the Marine Research Centre.
Even if I originally went for marine conservation, the uniqueness of the programme permitted me to get involved with the local community and learn more about the language and the culture. Along with other volunteers, I took Dhivehi classes with Shanaz from VFF and I can now read and write (Although I don’t understand everything). We also met a lot of people from the island and found them to be really friendly, helpful and welcoming.
My experience in Velidhoo was further enriched by working with the local children. Activities such as spoken English classes, swimming classes, snorkelling trips/classes, art classes and tutoring lead me to being very attached to this friendly, smiling and intelligent youth.
Finally, my experience wasn’t only about work-work-work but was also about having fun, doing unique activities and getting to know the other volunteers. Every week, we went night fishing, we went on a snorkelling trip and a diving trip with Lazy Gecko Dive Centre, had a barbecue on the beach, went on a picnic trip on a nearby island and sometimes just relaxed and got an UNO tournament going on with the other volunteers.
Overall, this was one of the most enriching and amazing experiences I have ever lived, and I have made lifelong friends of the other volunteers as well as local people.