The Sunshine Coast’s NSRI Survival Swimming used World Drowning Prevention Day on July 25 as an opportunity to raise awareness about the programme, and about water
safety in general.
Driving the week’s activities were NSRI crew member Carol Mewse and Outdoor Focus owner Carey Webster, founders of the local chapter of Survival Swimming.Thursday started off with a CPR workshop at Port Alfred School. In the afternoon, children from various local
schools gathered at Outdoor Focus, Kiddies Beach, Port Alfred.
The younger children enjoyed beach activities and games, while the older children learned hands-only CPR.
All the children were taught the basic safety rules for a trip to the beach, dam or river, and how to help someone who is in trouble in the water, while keeping yourself safe.
On Thursday night, several businesses and home owners embraced the call to ‘light up in blue’ to mark the day.
On Saturday, the NSRI Station 11 conducted training at Middle Beach, Kenton – on – Sea .
This included simulations of rescuing someone from drowning in the surf.
On average, 1,477 people drown in SA every year. Of those, nearly 430 are children under 14. Of the 1 477 lives, 21% or 310 lives, are lost in the Eastern Cape. Working hard to make a difference in Ndlambe are Carey Webster and Carol Mewse, who started the Sunshine Coast
Survival Swimming Programme in November 2023.
Together with volunteers, they have taught 1,463 children in Port Alfred, Kenton-on-Sea, and surrounding areas how to keep themselves safe and what to do in an emergency.
The NSRI launched its Survival Swimming Programme at the beginning of 2020. Today, at sites in seven provinces, professional instructors and volunteers teach children the basic skills to stay afloat should they find themselves in difficulty in the water.
The initiative came about after several stories emerged involving children drowning a metre or two from safety. The children would not have needed to swim 50m to survive; they would only have needed to know how to move as little as 5m through the water to get to
safety. Children learn how to avoid drowning NSRI team teaches basics of water safety, hands-only CPR
● Visit SurvivalSwimmingSunshineCoast on Facebook
- This article was first published in Talk of the Town, August 1, 2024. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
