Saldanha Bay Municipality and NSRI continue to instil water safety skills in local youth

Saldanha Bay Municipality in partnership with the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) hosted the NSRI’s Survival Swimming Programme at the South African Navy Base in Saldanha on Thursday, 14 March 2024. 

This is the second event hosted by the NSRI in the Saldanha Bay municipal area and ideally fits into the Saldanha Bay Safety Initiative’s (SBSI) objective of achieving an overall safer Easter festive season.  Other role players at the event were amongst others the Department of Education, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Disaster Management volunteers / interns.

The NSRI’s Survival Swimming Programme is geared at youth and adults in under-resourced areas with the purpose of imparting on valuable life skills. The programme teaches the very basics of Breath-control, Orientation, Floating, and Moving through water.

Eight local schools participated at the event, namely St Andrews Primary, Masiphathisane Primary, Hopefield Primary, Steenbergs Cove Primary, Vredenburg High, New Vredenburg High, Weskus Skool and EJ Malgarte. 

Through this journey with the NSRI, we envisage to continue with a two-cycle project on an annual basis, one before the December festive season and one before Easter, in the efforts to prevent the occurrences of drowning in the area. 

This initiative is focussed to instil an attitude of confidence and trust amongst local youth.