from a feature on www.link2malta.com:

Link2Malta talks to Rita Vella

Link2Malta this week meets Rita Vella, PADI Course director with a unique record of a 100% student success rate.

She studied Business Management between 1974 and 1976 when she got her Diploma. Rita's own working career started in 1976 in the Manufacturing Industry at a corrugated cardboard boxes factory, where she started as clerk for the Management section. She was actually the only female to work in a factory employing only men. She ended as Sales Manager, a post she kept until 1989.

Daughter of a chemist and a Civil Servant executive officer, she is the youngest of seven children and was born in Birkirkara. Rita's mother, Emily, under the perseverance of her father, Dr. Paul Grech, was one of the first women to go to university, where she eventually graduated as a chemist.

So, did you plan getting into diving?
"Not quite. I used to spend Saturdays waiting for my boyfriend to come back from his dives, and in the end I decided to start doing it myself." She remembers her first dive way back in 1985 quite vividly, the feeling of going underwater for the first time while still being able to breathe… a memory anyone who ever did scuba diving keeps.

Rita discussing plans about beach cleanup with Sliema Local Cousillor Mr.Toni Malli, Summer 02

She started working in the diving business in 1987 and became a SAA (Sub-Aqua Association) instructor in 1989. She has since successfully set up three five-star IDC centres. In 1995 she became a PADI instructor and kept going up the ranks until she became a PADI Course Director. She decided to go for PADI as this was by far the most professional diving organisation worldwide, qualifying more scuba divers than all the other diving associations put together.

And what made you decide to become a Course Director?
"We always had to depend on foreigners to provide the IDCs (Instructor Development Courses) in Malta, and this was frustrating. This is the main reason I wanted to become a Course Director myself."
Becoming a Course Director in 1999 was a double accomplishment for Rita. Apart from becoming the first female Maltese Course Director in the Maltese Islands she was also one of the very first two locals to attain such a post.

Anything apart from diving?
"Good food" is the definite answer with a smile; "especially mashed potatoes."

"Being counted as one of the best in the diving industry comes at the price of countless personal sacrifice. Sometimes people say 'success is really measured by the amount of losses one suffers', so in this case I must be a really successful person." she adds with a hint of a melancholic look.

The team from Diveshack at the Beach Cleanup, Summer 02

Your happiest moment?
"The happiest moment of my life was when I gave birth to my first child, Giusy. At that moment I realized what maternal love means, and how deep my own mother's love towards myself really was. I used to take Giusy with me wherever I went. By this time I was working full time in the diving industry and among other jobs I was teaching diving as an Instructor, so she would be present at lessons and even on day trips to Comino."

"When I was pregnant with my second child, Kikka, there were moments when I kept repeating to myself thoughts like 'How can I possibly love this child as much as the first one? How can I possibly have enough love?' All these doubts were dashed away soon as I gave birth to her and held her, when I really realized how infinite love is."

Do you think this is a male-dominated world? If so, how do you deal with it?
"First of all I think most women deserve being treated the way they are due to their attitude. They want to be treated differently in certain ways, but then they start bragging about not being treated in equal ways like their male colleagues on other issues. What do you expect? You either get equality on all basis or nothing at all!"

"On the other hand, it is true that women always have to prove themselves before they are trusted, whilst men are always taken for granted from the beginning. This, however, in no way should stop women from progressing. It is all willpower in the end."

What do you like in people?
"Honesty and being truthful; people who stand up for what they believe in."

And what do you hate?..well, since you love honesty..
"I hate people who show you one thing when in fact they are another; hypocrites. I hate lies. What's the point of talking with someone who does not say the truth? It doesn't make sense in the end. You can't make your mind what to believe and what not."

Rita's student being examined by international PADI Examiners

What about the ETC diving programme? How did it come into existence?
"Diving is a very important for Malta but there aren't enough Maltese instructors in this industry. On the other hand there are quite a number of people, both employed and not, in Malta who would like to try a different career direction. The ETC issued a tender to some diving schools to sponsor a PADI diving programme and my school, Diveshack (a 5-star IDC resort), was chosen on the basis of being the most qualified centre for this programme. This programme is now running its second year, with the third group currently undergoing training."

"After the first group had successfully completed the programme and became diving instructors, we were honoured by the presence of Mr Howard Pearce, who was then the British High Commissioner for Malta. He showed his admiration and support for this program by addressing the then newly qualified PADI instructors in a speech he gave on a social function to celebrate their successful completion."

A memorable dive?
"Yes, once we were diving in the area between Comino and Gozo. We were at about 40m deep, and were absolutely absorbed by this profound blue. On looking up we could see some light coming through, but still there was no view of the surface. The bottom was nowhere to be seen. It was absolutely amazing. It made me feel so insignificant; just a tiny speck in this whole world."

Mr.Howard Pearce, former British High Commissioner for Malta, during presentation of IDCs at Diveshack

Where to next now?
"I've already been to Western coutries, including Italy, Germany the UK and the US. I've also been in some North African countries like Tunis and Egypt. What I wish now is to go to other far off countries, like Thailand. I wish to go with my daughters to as many different diving sites around the globe as possible."

Do you consider yourself an optimist or a pessimist person?
"Since I was a little child I always went my way when I believed in something, even when all the odds were against me. I want to take account of every angle of things, positive and negative. I consider everything instead of rushing. Due to this sometimes people say that I am rather negative, but in the end I think I'm only trying to think in a realistic way."