Sea Rescue taught over 50 000 children about water safety in 2011

WaterWise Children during a class in a Ceres farm school.Congratulations to our WaterWise educators , who, in 2011, have taught 50 477 children around the country about water safety and how to do bystander CPR. This is a fantastic effort by a really dedicated team.The 45 minute course, taught by seven educators ( based in Eshowe, Mamelodi, Port Elizabeth, Ceres, Cape Town and East London) is aimed at 9 to 14 year old children in disadvantaged communities.The NSRI / WaterWise educators go into schools and teach the children the WaterWise lesson in the safety of their own classrooms. The intensive course has nothing to do with teaching children to swim. We concentrate on teaching them how to PLAN to be safe near water, not to panic, who to call in an emergency and how to do bystander CPR. Each lesson is tailored to the needs of the children depending on where they live.Our WaterWise educators have taught 175 865 children since the program was started in 2005. Lwazi Fihlela is the WaterWise educator based in Eshowe. Eoudia Erasmus is WaterWise's educator based in Ceres. Marcus Oshry is a Port Elizabeth based NSRI coxswain and WaterWise educator. Charles McHelm is a Cape Town based educator. Madeleine Pirzenthal is our East London WaterWise educator and NSRI volunteer. Ernesta Swanepoel is a Cape Town based NSRI volunteer and WaterWise educator.