Latest News

Tsunami Swimmer Sanduni Moves To Front Page

I have returned once again to Sri Lanka. Whilst in Colombo, I immediately went to see one of my swimming teachers, whom, you may recall, was the caretaker’s daughter at the Palm Forest coconut plantation pool, down south, in Weligama, where I taught swimming in the aftermath of the Asian Tsunami of 2004. Sanduni’s home was washed out by the giant wave; today she proudly showed me the front page of the Sri Lanka Sunday Times Monthly Medical Supplement to Better Health, where she features as an aqua-therapy swimming teacher for people with acute chronic injuries or debilitating conditions.

Sanduni at the forefront of aqua therapy

The Sri Lanka Women’s Swimming Project has two aims: the first is to teach women and teenage girls to swim and made them safe in water; the secondary aim is micro-economic empowerment and social mobility for women. Sanduni is the personification of the latter; I have watched her blossom over the last 5 years. Now, standing before me is a bright, young 21 year old who enthusiastically leaps out of bed to go to a job she really enjoys, earns enough to be independent and can hold long conversations in English – a real achievement.

I also went to visit another of our swimming teachers, Samthika, who is taking unpaid maternity leave to have a baby, having worked for us for three years; she plans to return to us later in the year. Time to start Mother and Baby classes! Samathika is possibly the only swimming teacher in the southern part of the Island to have continued to teach whilst very visibly pregnant, right up to her sixth month; quite extraordinary, really, considering just how difficult it has been simply to persuade women to get into the water for a lesson in the first place.

Expectant Swimming Teacher Samanthika with Chris

I wish that all of you who have donated to this project could see how your financial help has transformed the lives of not only of Sanduni and Samanthika, but also so many other young women here, in Sri Lanka. When I commented to Sanduni that the Project was struggling financially, her reply was: You must not stop. There are so many girls and women like myself that need to be safe in water. You must help them also. What can I do, except carry on and continue to teach them to swim, then select and train the willing with the potential to become swimming teachers and thus multiply the swimming effort exponentially.

Still 400,000 people drown annually worldwide, most in the tropical southeast end of Asia, the majority of these deaths through drowning can be prevented. The Project has adopted the International Federation of Swimming Teachers Association agreed definition of Can Swim Safely as its Certification Standard: Jump into deep water; Float totally unaided for ten minutes; Swim 100 metres non-stop without touching pool sides or floor; and Climb Out of the water, unaided. When these Can Swim Certificates are handed out, it is in the sure knowledge that these people are well and truly safe in water.

Christina Fonfe’
HABARADUWA
Sri Lanka

Back...