Hard to imagine a serious day at the beach, and of course CEF’s Water Safety day at the beach is
great fun. But there is a serious side to it.
Every time I fly into Da Nang the closest airport to CEF’s home
office in Hoi An in central Vietnam I am struck as I look out of the window by
how much water I can see. Broad rivers winding down to the South China Sea,
their sources to the west in the mountains which divide Viet Nam and Laos and
fed by the torrential tropical rains. Lagoons stretch into the hazy distance
and then on the other side of a sand bar or beach the sea. There’s no shortage
of water and it’s a source of food and work for millions. It’s also a potential
danger.
Nearly all of the children in CEF’s programs live near water on
farms and in fishing communities. And very few know how to swim. So a few years
ago Linda and her staff had the idea to hold a day at the beach to teach the
children about what to do should they get into trouble in water. That’s the
serous part.
On top of expert tuition from the guys at Swim Viet Nam there’s
plenty of fun: games on the beach and in the water, a picnic spread out in the
shade of the palm trees, a movie as the sun sinks and just hanging out with
new-found friends from other villages around.
It’s quite a logistical feat to get 80 plus children from far-flung
communities up to three hours from the sea to the beach and Linda and her team
have been organising the day for some months. On top of that they have to raise
the money for the day. It costs on average $20 for each child. Pretty cheap
when you think it will surely save lives as happened to one young man in 2012.
You can read about how Phuoc saved himself on our fundraising site http://makingadifference.gofundraise.com.au/page/watersafety
and help CEF make sure that our children stay safe around water. We don’t want
them to become one of the 10 children who drown every day in Viet Nam.
Photos from one of our early Water Safety Days - By Etienne Bossot
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