An international football match, like that of at SAFF championship, for Maldives will be one of those rare occasions where all Maldivians alike unite to demonstrate the patriotic spirit.

Still rarer are those occasions when calamity occurs; the tsunami of December 2004 was one of those unusual times when Maldivians showed extraordinary solidarity.

Fortunately for Mohamed Haleem, popular among friends as simply Kesto, the time served an unusual but important opportunity – of a task that was at hand for the most unlikely group of friends: the “Alfresco Family.”

Kesto, now in his 40s, is also fondly called “King of Coffee” among his closest friends for a reason: he is the pioneering socialite who may have single-handedly helped launch “coffee culture” in Maldives:

At a time when Café Alfresco had just opened at STO Trade Center, Kesto always encouraged socializing and gradually created a network of well-connected Maldivians, and even promoted this Alfresco Coffee Family through his Facebook page.

Having a passion for culture, history and photography among his various interests, Kesto keeps a close affinity to the Alfresco Coffee Family through Facebook promotions and has a separate photo album where he regularly uploads photos of Alfresco Coffee Family.

When the tsunami came, Kesto was able to mobilize a lot of people to take over different tasks to help tsunami struck families across the Maldives.

“I think that is what is the single most beneficial thing of having a close contact group — being able to mobilize a very large group of friends to take action where it is needed,” he recently reminisced.

Kesto is popular for his invaluable contributions to social and humanitarian causes, not to mention sports.

In 1993 he extended his personal gym and opened Muscle Load; today there are 6,000 registered members and around 100 regular members.

Kesto is also Founder of Bodybuilding Federation of Maldives (BBFM) and through Muscle Load, which became BBFM’s official gym, many people trained and gained fame in local and international bodybuilding events.

Kesto also facilitated training of the elite Star Force policemen at Muscle Load. The gym continues to provide bouncers and other security services to important social events in the country.

Kesto, along with other associates, have also helped to set up gyms in Maafushi prison, the drug rehabilitation center in Himmafushi and islands in 6 other atolls.

Kesto, who sees himself more as a “Global Citizen” now lives mostly in Malaysia but is currently in Maldives to take care of certain matters.

“I might be here for a long while,” he said.

More of Kesto’s Facebook albums on Alfresco community:

Alfresco Eid Celebration

Alfresco celebrates victory day 2009

Tags: bodybuilding, haleem, kesto, load, muscle, tsunami