This scuba instructor believes diving is the key to protecting coral in the Maldives
CNN
Zoona Naseem is the Maldives' second certified PADI course director. But rather than turning her skills towards tourists she opened the Moodhu Bulhaa Dive Centre, dedicated to teaching local women and children.
(CNN) — Zoona Naseem led nine children, some as young as eight years old, out towards the open waters of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, rattling off a list of reminders: switch to regulators, inflate buoyancy control devices, adjust the masks.
"If you have any problems with your ears, we are not going to go down," she called out before the group took the plunge. "Going deep is not the most important thing. The most important thing is to enjoy the dive."
Naseem founded and runs the Moodhu Bulhaa Dive Centre, a 10-minute boat ride away from the Maldivian capital of Malé. Unlike many of the country's scuba diving schools, which are based at resorts and target tourists, Naseem primarily serves local woman and children.