Monday, July 09, 2012

A Season of “Ambergris” to Maldives

Maldives and Ambergris have a long history together. It has been ages since it is a habit to some Maldivian every day morning to walk on the beaches of the islands looking for ambergris that will make them rich in just seconds.

What really is ambergris? “A wax like substance that originates as a secretion in the intestines of the sperm whale, found floating in tropical seas and used in perfume manufacture”



For the last three or four months, we locals have seen many news headlines that involves an ordinary citizens found many kilo grams of ambergris. Not from the capital city but from islands and most of them are fishermen who spend their days on the sea. Some are wise enough to find out the real price of the piece and sell it and others not so brave to look for the “actual” price instead they go for the “trusted” buyer and sell it to a price that is just a small price of the actual value. There are also cases that will need to be solved through justice system and I think there are still cases pending that involve ambergris.

Now matter of the actual value, within the last four months, we Maldivian have found 7 ambergris and that gave them a chance to earn around 100 million Rufiyaa in cash.

My intension to write this post is not to ramble about ambergris. But I was just wondering how these people will spend this sudden income they earn. If I am not wrong, some decides to do the religious necessities and others spend that money to build a new home and many more.

But how many of these ordinary households use this huge bulk of money to invest it in a way that will long last for their life time. Because the amount is that big, if they are wise they might not have to work for the rest of their lives.

I would love to see a success story about these ordinary citizens who are lucky to find ambergris and that change their lives for better. I hope a journalist to cover such story and let us read it in a near future from a news source.

I hope they will not use all the bundles of cash to build a luxurious room with the most expensive bedroom set and an expensive sound system only.

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