Summer's festive season will be different for 40 boys and girls from Scenery Park and Duncan Village who are to be trained and equipped to handle themselves in swimming pools and in the sea at beaches around East London.
From today until April 2018, the group of kids will be taught swimming skills at the Ruth Belonsky pools in Parkside every Tuesday, and will be taught how to surf at the Orient beach on Thursdays.
This is thanks to the Buffalo City Metro’s swimming safety project launched at the Orient pools yesterday afternoon.
The children are aged between 10 and 13 and are from a number of schools from the two townships.
The project is a partnership between BCM and its sister city, Leiden, in the Netherlands.
Councillor Xolani Witbooi said BCM felt compelled to play its role trying to prevent drowning’s in and around the city.
“We are a metro with an ocean, and we have to admit that we have a challenge when it comes to drownings.”
Witbooi said he believed the partnership with Leiden would see swimming and surfing champions coming out of BCM. “We are preparing a future for these young ones by familiarising them with water at an early age.”
For Lisa Quluba from Zwelemfundo Primary in Scenery Park, the programme was of great significance as Quluba was part of a group of boys at the Umzonyana dam in February when one of their friends drowned.
“These lessons will really help me by teaching me how to swim,” he said.
“I’ll be able to save others.”
BCM spokeswoman Bathandwa Diamond said the project piloted in 2016 with 20 children and had doubled in size.
“We saw it best to include kids from Scenery Park after the drowning that happened there earlier this year.
“The initial project ran for four weeks, but this one will be happening for six months.
“The project is still in its early stages, but we want to see it growing to cover other areas of the metro. It will go all the way to King William’s Town.”
Asked whether BCM intended to install pools in township areas, Diamond said: “We have plans to build more pools. Parkside and Zwelitsha already have them.
“In Mdantsane, we are currently busy with procurement to get the pool up and running.
“We will definitely have more pools around BCM.” — nonsindisoq@dispatch.co.za