IT is a shocking experience to see someone drown. As a teenager I saw two youngsters being swept out to sea at Noetzie.
They were both on lilos and neither could swim. The current brought one back, but the other boy was never seen again. I thought about those boys this week when I read the latest magazine of the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), in particular a column by NSRI’s chief Cleve Robertson. He wrote about the drowning of a Joburg boy on a school outing earlier this year that had made headlines, had led to an inquiry and blame was apportioned to teachers. But, said Robertson, the Gauteng education minister could “threaten individuals all he likes, but the fact is that he is complicit” in the boy’s drowning. The reason? Although swimming was a survival skill, Robertson said it was “barely on the radar of education”. While it was easy to blame the teachers, the real problem was that South Africa did not have a culture of swimming or of safety. The NSRI cannot change the system, but instead of wringing their hands or pointing fingers, they just get cracking and do what they can to ensure that as many kids as possible will survive if they get into difficulties in the water. I really like that. Last year they taught water safety to over 530 000 school pupils. This year they started their Survival Swimming programme that teaches children the basics of survival in water. They focus on children from poorer areas who do not have swimming pools at school or at home, nor the money to pay for lessons. NSRI has completed their pilot projects and are now creating “Pop Up Survival Swimming Squads” all over the country. It’s such a wonderful idea. These squads of volunteers go to where the disadvantaged kids swim, assess their ability, and then teach them survival basics free of charge: to control their breathing, orientate themselves in the water, float, and then propel themselves to safety. Andrew Ingram from NSRI wrote: “To see them realise that they are floating unaided is just brilliant…the sense of achievement is written all over their faces.” NSRI are now looking for volunteers for the pop-up programmes, so if you want to volunteer, email yaseen@searescue.org.za And here is something I did not know: It is apparently easy to overlook that someone is drowning because of something called the “instinctive drowning response”. Drowning people are unable to call for help because they are trying to breathe. Speech is a secondary function to breathing. They cannot wave because nature forces them to extend their arms sideways to press down to lift their mouths out of the water. That explains the statistics of the Centre for Disease Control in the US: of the 750 children who drowned there in 2012, 375 did so within 22 metres of an adult. In 10% of those cases, the adult actually watched them drown, having no idea it was happening. The NSRI says all drownings are preventable. Let’s hope their Survival Squads flourish.
