The End

Dear Donor,

As we have returned to our lovely cold country, it is time to provide you with one final update on the project. Currently, we are likely back in the classrooms, working on our new course, and it feels as if we never left. The past three months have flown by like nothing. Of course, we did not sit still during that time. Let us first explain what we accomplished in the last week of the project before taking you through the key takeaways of the past three months.

Even more compost kits

We realized that we had enough budget left to build some more significant compost kits, so we took action. We visited two farms in the nature park that were interested in constructing additional kits. The owner of one farm was a very smart man who wanted to build the compost kits himself but needed assistance in allocating resources. We provided him with five more pallets and enough chicken wire to construct five additional kits. He declined our help with the construction, which we respected. He mentioned that, if possible, he would build more in the future. At the other farm, Sinna's dad's farm, we built two more kits, and they expressed interest in building more, promising to keep us updated.

Creating our own garden

We created a garden at the Mainz International School, the school neighboring the agricultural college. Together with the kids from the school, we planted various plants, and they agreed to honor our donors by dedicating the garden to them. We crafted a handmade sign with the names of the specific donors on it, and the school will hang it above the garden. See our instagram for some good photos.

Thank You Dinner

We hosted a large Thank You dinner, inviting all the important stakeholders from our project to a local restaurant. The attendees included Mohammed Waheed from Equator Village, several principals and teachers from the schools, and Fathmath from Veshi Saafu. Bringing them all together and saying goodbye was a good experience. Some stakeholders shared kind words, and we even received a few gifts. It served as a nice way to conclude the project.

More birthdays

Having celebrated Steve's birthday last week, we now had another one to celebrate. Nicolaas had his birthday, and fortunately for him, he wasn't stuck with just the rest of us. He received a visit from his father and girlfriend. They joined us in some of our activities in Addu City later on. It was nice to show them our home for the past three months.

Souvenirs

On the day before our flight back to the capital city Malé, we met with Zameela from the NGO Live&Learn one final time, as promised. Unfortunately, she was not available at the last moment, but one of her colleagues provided us with the promised souvenirs. These handmade pendants, crafted from coconut husks and hand-painted, look fantastic. We have brought them home and are figuring out how to get them to you. Expect a message from us soon.

Compost kit gezeik

Once again (as of typing this in February), there has been a delay in the shipment of the remaining 30 small compost kits. It almost sounds like a joke, but unfortunately, it's not. As mentioned last week, we have devised a plan to ensure a smooth delivery when they arrive. We will be having a meeting with the company that supplies us with the kits to get a better picture and finalize the arrangement. Our project providers from the startup Resilient Island will be going to the Maldives soon for their own project and can assist us with some arrangements if necessary.

Looking back

It has been a fruitful three months. We had to adjust the scope of our project due to delivery issues with the small compost kits, but fortunately, we had a backup plan. We built the large compost kits on multiple islands, eventually constructing 20, most of which were built in Equator Village and the two farms, with a few in various schools. We also distributed 10 small compost kits to schools and households, with 30 more on the way.

If the composting process goes well, Equator Village will now have enough compost kits to process all of their organic waste, using the compost for their gardens. The farms will have a place to process their gardening waste and an opportunity to create their own fertilizer. The schools have learned valuable lessons on sustainability and composting and have expressed enthusiasm about continuing composting at home and incorporating composting in the lesson materials in the next years. Many of the schools and farms are connected on Facebook and Viber (local WhatsApp) and will hopefully continue sharing their experiences with composting.

Thank you once again for your support.

Best regards,

Nicolaas, Sterre, Ruth, and Thom

Fun fact: In the Maldives, when it's someone's birthday, it's a tradition to egg them with the number of eggs corresponding to their age. Unfortunately, Nicolaas sought shelter on his birthday, and if you are reading this, rest assured, you will still get them one day.