Our first meeting was held on Friday, the 25^th of August, at the Social Centre seminar room. The meeting was due to begin at 9pm, but due to the Maldivian sense of timing, the meeting started 15 minutes later. The meeting was well attended, as far as the publicity about it was concerned. Since we were refused any sort of publicity or advertising from TVM, Haveeru and Minivan news, we settled for fliers. Considering that, we felt that the turn up was satisfactory.  

The meeting was very productive, dynamic and “happening”. There was a lot of important issues raised, a variety of questions discussed, and some pretty heated debates. Some of the questions that were raised were, what do we hope to achieve by this project and what were the objectives? Why form an NGO, couldn’t we just write a book and create a documentary? does the NGO come to an end after the book is published and the documentary is produced? Are we focusing on a specific type of fanditha? Do writers get information and write based on their opinions? If so, isn’t it possible that the writer might end up promoting fanditha sihuru? The most frequently asked question was, why the interest? It seemed peculiar to a lot of people that a bunch of young people might be interested in such an old and “outdated” practice.

We got a lot of helpful suggestions. We were advised to do an Islamic research first so that we may strengthen our beliefs. To do this, we were told about the benefits of inviting religious scholars and Sheikhs who could guide us correctly because such a project could easily lead us to shirk, and possible even Satanism. We were also advised that being young people with potential, it is better to exert our efforts and spend our time with more worthwhile causes as there were more pressing issues. There were also warnings that we could end up promoting this practice that can be passed as shirk without intending to.

We feel that such an open and varied debate has contributed immensely and we would like to thank all those who spent their time with us, shared their wisdom and opinions, and offered their assistance and cooperation. We’re pleased to note that some people who practiced fanditha attended the meeting, as well as people interested in the project from a religious perspective, and even those who had done research in this field previously. All their questions and suggestions are very much appreciated.

We finished the meeting at 10.15 pm, after requesting those interested in being a part of the project to note down their names and contact details in our membership forms. We will be in touch with them soon, and any more updates and news announcements will be available on this website. So do keep checking!

Once again, to all who came, a big thanks…. and until next time, toodles!