Local hero makes effort to offer free swimming lessons
To encourage water safety and curb drowning incidents, Dora Rapai started a programme to teach kids how to swim.
Dora Rapai has, over the past two years, dedicated herself to providing free swimming lessons to children around her area through the help of Little Munkis Swimming School.
According to Dora, initially, her goal was to equip these youngsters with the necessary swimming skills so that they could join canoeing at Florida Lake.
However, a series of tragic drownings within her community pushed her to continue teaching children this vital life skill, and that’s how her programme called Connectedor, started.
“One thing I have realised is that most parents do not know how to swim; therefore, whenever there’s an incident they cannot jump into the water and save their little one. These are vital life skills that everyone needs in the community.
” I have about 15 kids in total that I drive every Saturday to Little Munkis and the programme is growing immensely,” Dora said.
According to coach Alaina Gelderbloem, they mostly teach the children water safety.
“We look at the procedures, precautions, and policies associated with water and what to do when there’s an emergency or risk of an injury or drowning. When they started, they didn’t know anything about swimming; however, they have improved immensely and they can now swim for themselves and we monitor them from a distance,” Alaina said during their year-end party held on December 6 at Constantia Kloof Primary.
The annual year-end function was a joyous celebration that brought together children and their parents for a fun-filled day of laughter and leisure. The sunny event was marked by a mouth-watering braai, endless swimming and exciting activities that kept everyone entertained.
The little ones had a blast bouncing around in the colourful jumping castles, while their parents relaxed and enjoyed some well-deserved downtime.
Holiday swimming precautions for children, as advised by coach Alaina:
1. Always swim with a personal floatation device (PDF)
2. Never swim alone
3. Don’t pretend to drown
4. Parents must learn how to swim
5. Kids must know their emergency numbers
6. Don’t swim during lightning or thunder
