Letter to the editor: Drowning is not a joke

Jenny van Huyssteen, of a swimming school in Northmead, writes:

I am a qualified Swim South Africa registered infant and LTS instructor, as well as a registered first-aid facilitator.

I qualified with Swim SA in March 2015 and have been teaching swimming ever since.

I entered these fields as I feel drowning is something that is preventable and it is my passion to make parents aware of the risks of drowning and educate them.

Parents think that because they do not have a pool at home their children do not need to know how to swim – this could not be further from the truth.

We live in a country with plenty of bodies of open water, such as rivers, dams and sewer drains.

Another common myth is that parents will hear if their child is in trouble. Please, understand how untrue this is.
Drowning is silent and can happen at any time.

With summer around the corner, if we can save one life by creating awareness then we are one step closer to achieving the mission at hand.

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