Water Safety and Water Awareness Program

Water Safety and Water Awareness Program

We have been continuously involved with a previously disadvantaged community upliftment program with our local rural children from the surrounding areas, whereby on Saturdays for 3 hours in the morning, for a period of between 6 to 8 weeks, we will teach and educate 15 to 20 previously disadvantaged Black, Indian and Coloured children, ranging from 6 to 14 years old, how to float, swim, basic first aid and teach them the basic skills of Water Safety and Water Awareness. The program has been running since November 2003. The objective of this program is to teach the children basic swimming and floating skills and become water safe and aware of the dangers of swimming at non lifeguard patrolled beaches and also the dangers of swimming without supervision. They also learn basic first aid skills and techniques in case of emergencies. We hope that this project will educate these children about the sea and the potential dangers and enjoyment that can be experienced at the beach, rivers and dams and hopefully we can introduce and encourage them into the lifesaving movement.

From recent stats received, the National Health Council has said that Drowning is the second highest cause of deaths among children; about 450 die a year from drowning incidents.

There are 2 main focus points of our development program:

1). Through this program we hope to bring future employment opportunities for these children, as lifesavers working for the municipality on the beach,

2). And finally and Most importantly to teach these children about water safety and awareness of the dangers of swimming in the sea and rivers. We do not want a repeat of what happen during the July 2005 holidays in Richards Bay when the children on a school excursion drowned at the beach because they did not swim when the lifeguards were on duty, and they swam without supervision.

We hope that with this program we can teach these children who are the future of our country about water safety and with the knowledge they have gained, impart it to their peers, so all children in South Africa can come to enjoy this unbelievable resource responsibly.

For this development programme the Club was awarded a certificate of merit as one of 4 finalists for the Murray and Roberts Jack Cheetham Award in 2006.

Zero to Hero Lifeguard Development Program

Zero to Hero Lifeguard Development Program

We have recently successfully completed our second ZERO to HERO development program.

We approached a Boys home (Ottawa Boys Haven in Durban) for previously disadvantaged black boys in November 2008, we selected 8 black boys, aged between 15 and 18 years old.

The length of the program is between six months to a year to complete. It entails teaching and training previously disadvantaged children to swim and become proficient in the water (this can take between three months to over a year depending on the children’s skill level), and take them through a course to become qualified Lifesavers.

Once the children are proficient at swimming in the pool and meet the Lifesaving swimming qualification, we then teach and train them the Lifeguard Award (LA), this course teaches and trains them in first aid, lifesaving rescue techniques and lifesaving duty management.

When they have gone through the course, which is six weeks of intensive training and learning, they then have to complete the exam and pass to qualify as Lifesavers.

This Lifeguard Award is recognized worldwide as a lifesaving qualification, and is a requirement for obtaining a lifesaving job in South Africa.

Once they have obtained their LA we incorporate them into our current duty squads on the beach to perform voluntary duties with the Umhlanga Lifesaving Club on Sundays and Public Holidays. When they have gained enough experience, through training with the current qualified lifesavers, we then during the holiday season arrange for them to be employed by the Local Municipality to work on the beach or at the Municipal Pools as temporary Lifeguards. 

To date we have successfully put through 10 candidates who have completed the full course and attained their Lifeguard awards and have been working on the beach and pools performing lifesaving duties.

Our Objective of this program is to offer PDI’s, hope for the future, something to hold onto, something to strive to and the opportunity to gain employment.