Sink or Swim

2015

SINK OR SWIM

LEARNING THE CRAWL IN THE MALDIVES

Over 350,000 people live 4 feet above sea level in the island republic of Maldives, yet most never learned to swim! Take a deep dive with filmmaker Jon Bowermaster as he documents a swim camp for 3rd graders and their mothers. Discover the complex and fascinating interplay between people, their culture, and their ocean environment.

SINK OR SWIM

F

or two weeks in May, the One Ocean Media Foundation helped organize and film a unique learn-to-swim project on the remote Maldivian island of Eydafushi. With the support of the Slow Life Foundation and the Soneva Fushi Resort, our goal was to get moms and kids more confident in the water, in part as a means to impress upon them the importance of taking better care of the beautiful ocean that surrounds them.

At the end of the two weeks, the forty-eight third-graders and eighteen burka-clad mothers who had come each day for lessons put on masks, fins and snorkels and, for many of them, were for a first time able to see the water world below the surface. Like many corners of Planet Ocean the Maldives suffer from a variety of ills, mostly manmade: Overfishing. Plastic pollution. Rising sea levels due to a warming ocean. And acidification. Teaching these incredible families to swim was hopefully a first step towards encouraging them to be even better guardians.

I have long been surprised when we travel along the world’s coastlines to discover just how many people who grow up just a few feet above sea level are never taught to properly swim. And what we have witnessed, from the Maldives to the Bahamas, New York City to Dubrovnik, is that if you don’t get “in” the water it is very hard to imagine protecting it.

Our hope with the “Sink or Swim” was to both promote using the ocean, but also taking better care of it.

sink_dvd-1

Sink or Swim: Learning the Crawl in the Maldives

Written, Produced, Directed by Jon Bowermaster
Music by Steve Gorn
Edited by Devin Pickering
Videographer Alex Nicks
Executive Producers One Ocean Media Foundation & Slow Life Foundation

Written, Produced, Directed by Jon Bowermaster
Music by Steve Gorn
Edited by Devin Pickering
Videographer Alex Nicks
Executive Producers One Ocean Media Foundation & Slow Life Foundation