July 2006 to June 2007

On July 17, Vancouver resident Jonn Braman, a Project Manager in Policy and Planning for the Greater Vancouver Regional District, departed to work on a Canadian Red Cross waste management and recycling system in the Republic of the Maldives. He will be implementing this system on 74 of the 200 islands that were affected by the tsunami disaster in 2004.His deployment is in part of an ongoing partnership between Builders Without Borders and the Canadian Red Cross.

The Maldives are a long chain of islands sitting south-west off the tip of India. Though quite far from the earthquake epicentre, the tsunami of December 2004 had a greater per capita impact on the Maldives than any other country in the region because the 1,200 islands that comprise the nation are a little over two metres above sea level.

The wash from the tsunami contaminated ground water used for drinking, ruined sewage systems, damaged homes and spread debris and garbage over many of the 200 inhabited islands.

Our office is based out the capital city, Male’ (pronounced Maa-ley), but our work is scattered among the 74 islands most affected by the tsunami.

Made of coral sands, these are very small islands by British Columbia standards, seldom larger than a few hectares in area and widely separated by open water and shallow lagoons. We "commute" between worksites by boat, fortunately crewed by experienced Maldivians or we would surely run aground on the many unmarked reefs.

The work crews and equipment travel to the islands on landing craft, which beach on island shores to unload equipment and haul waste away. The crews venture around the island collecting and sorting waste for transport to the disposal site, a landfill on Thilafushi island.

At the same time we work with the island community locating waste, determining where the waste management centre should be built and developing training and operating plans for the new facility. Community volunteers, particularly women, take a very active role in making the project a success.

Cleaning an island and building a waste management centre can occur fairly quickly with large crews and equipment; they typically take between four and 10 days per island. In between groups of islands it can take awhile to organize the logistics.

Taking waste to the landfill, restocking materials, conducting environmental assessments and obtaining government approvals all take time. The coral islands of the Maldives are not mineral rich; most materials, including sand, gravel, concrete and steel are imported. Experienced contractors are also difficult to find and very busy rebuilding the country so getting the work done is quite a challenge.

Our home base of Male’ is crowded, with over 100,000 people on the two square kilometre island. The city bustles with activity as hundreds of scooters and people share the narrow streets in the hot humid weather. The harbours are even busier with dhoni’s (the Maldivian traditional workboat) and speedboats carrying goods and people to all parts of the country.

On islands outside the urban centre life is more relaxed and the scenery is truly spectacular, especially under the water. Snorkelling and scuba diving are popular pastimes, with me as well as most other visitors to the islands. The coral reefs, colourful fish, sea turtles, manta rays and even an occasional whale shark make diving a special reward after days and weeks of tsunami clean-up work.

Islanders being informed about recycling.

Jonn Braeman advising on waste management.

Island Chief inspecting new recycling facilities

Beach clean up 20 months after the Tsunami.