"During the working day I was responsible for planning and delivering Health and Physical Education. Classes were small as there can only be a certain number of 13-year-olds on an island just one mile in length."

Keele alumni Jamie Lea, an International Relations and Politics graduate, has recently returned from an incredible placement teaching English to children in the Maldives.

The opportunity had been promoted by Dr Farah Faizal, High Commissioner to the Maldives and also a Keele alumna, and circulated to students in their final year. Dr Farah Faizal came to Keele from the Maldives in 1986 to study International Relations. She has since brought democratic change to her home country and is a respected female diplomat on the international stage.

"I wouldn’t particularly say that I put much intellectual thought into the decision to apply. I was overcome by the image of me sitting on a beautiful beach," said Jamie, honestly.

In preparation for his role as a teacher, and to make the most out of his placement experience, Jamie first became a teaching assistant in the UK.

He said: "I wanted to have some idea of what it’s like being a teacher, and how to handle the classroom."

He flew out to the Maldives in August, arriving in the capital, Malé.

"I couldn’t believe how busy the streets were," he said, "mostly full of mopeds which brushed right past me constantly. I was about to encounter Maldivian hospitality for the first time. After walking around the capital for a while I went into a shop to ask if they had any sunglasses, he said he didn’t, but knew somewhere that did. In the UK that would have been the end of the story but not here. He shut his shop down in the middle of the day and told me to get on his moped so he could take me to this other shop. Things like this became very common, they really do look after their guests!"

A few days in the capital with a small number of other volunteers, and meetings with the Ministry of Education and the Minister for Foreign Relations, were followed by ‘departures to our separate islands’ where teaching began in earnest. Jamie’s placement was on the island of Dharavandhoo, where he found the pace to be 'much more relaxed than the capital'.

"For me it wasn’t the day-to-day teaching that meant the most," said Jamie. "It was the extracurricular activities, such as reef cleaning, where everyone was at their happiest."

The Maldives archipelago, comprising over 1,000 coral islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean, is the lowest lying nation on the globe, and therefore under existential threat by sea level rise caused by climate change.

Surprisingly, Jamie found the topic of climate change was seldom talked about by the adults he encountered.

He said: "The schools themselves often have climate awareness activities and educational seminars. I was expecting a lot more about climate change considering the threat of sea level rise, but it seemed to me like climate education needs to be extended to adults rather than just school children."

What next for Jamie?

He said: "I don't know. This opportunity was more about trying something new and dipping my toe in the water. I am glad that I did it. I learnt a lot about myself and another country. For now, I’m focussing on getting a job relevant to my degree."

Even so, Jamie is grateful for an incredible experience that has created memories for life.

He said: "I remember, in the first week, the children couldn’t keep their eyes off me, and I wondered why for a while, until a group came up to me and said I’m the first person with blue eyes they've ever seen, the first white person they have seen swim. They made jokes like 'Don’t worry, the sharks don’t like the taste of white skin', mocking my hesitation to get into the water."