It’s not uncommon to meet people in the Caribbean who cannot swim. Although many people can and do love swimming here, there is still a large population who cannot.
And unfortunately, the mortality rate for unintentional drowning is much higher than it is in the US. Luckily, there are great people out there who have made a mission of changing this trend by increasing access to swimming instruction, as well as increasing Red Cross Lifeguard training.
We were lucky to be in Grenada during national Get Grenada Swimming week. Deb Eastwood has been working hard for over a decade to provide free swim lessons to anyone who wants them- adults, children, locals, and visitors. If you show up on Saturday morning at Grand Anse, you can receive free instruction to help learn water safety and swimming. But Get Grenada Swimming Week is the big, twice yearly event.
Paul and I heard the call to volunteer for Get Grenada Swimming Week- a whole week of lessons from Monday-Friday 9am-noon, offered at 17 different locations around the island. Although neither Paul or I are a professional swim instructor, we have both received lessons since childhood, and are daily swimmers. We decided to follow the online training sessions, as well as in person training. Although we both felt deeply unqualified, ( I can’t even SWIM the butterfly!) We were assured that so long as we could swim better than our students, we’d be set.
Our training session at the beach on Saturday was really fun. The kids we were working with ranged from 5-8, and had varying levels of confidence in the water. One of my students LOVED to dive and kick, and just needed practice with floating and safety. Paul’s student was overtly terrified of the water and kept bargaining ways to remove himself from the sea, (“I have to pee”, “can we do races on the beach?”, “do you know how to do a cartwheel?”). But we learned that we could definitely be of assistance.
We were assigned to teach lessons for Get Grenada Swimming at True Blue resort, and were one of the few groups teaching in a swimming pool. Our students ranged from 5 year old kids with parents watching (and sometimes participating), a group of students from the Bel Air Children’s Home, and group of young adults who wanted to learn how to swim so they could safely jump off boats with their friends, and swim in the university pool for exercise.
Over the course of the 5 day swim lessons, all of the students made huge progress. From day one students, who were scared to blow bubbles or put their face in the water at all, to an adult student on day 5 attempting the butterfly, it was remarkable. And although every student we taught would benefit from further instruction, I can say with confidence every child ended that week with greatly improved water safety skills. More so, a lot of people had an introduction to the water and came away with a desire to explore more- if you live on an island, and you can swim- you can see so much more of your home just by getting in the water.
I was also reminded this week that learning a new skill is hard. These swimmers put themselves out there, in the hands of strangers, into what some of them felt was a dangerous place, and started by learning something from step one. I was struck by a continued bravery and openness that led to joy and great accomplishment. We ended all of the lessons with children by playing on the water slide and catching jumping kids- because water safety is important, but its also fun, and we wanted them to leave with excitement and joy to continue their swimming journeys.
All in all, Paul and I felt very fulfilled helping out during Get Grenada Swimming, and if you’re ever on the lovely island of Grenada, I would suggest reaching out to see if you can participate in local swim lessons as well. They can be trying, but they are fun, and you are helping a person with a lifesaving, lifelong skill.
Here are the final numbers for Get Grenada Swimming Week- You can see that Deb is well on her way to achieving her goal of teaching 10,000 people water safety and swimming skills.
If you want to volunteer with Deb for a Volunteer Vacation click through the link. If you have the means, US donors can contribute to their 501c3 by writing a check to Friends of GYA. Send the check to Friends of GYA, 6547 N. Academy Blvd, Suite 71, Colorado Springs, CO, 80918. U.S. contributions are tax-deductible.
Swimmingly,
Lindsay and Paul
TIBURON MARINO 