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aboutus
Shouldn't everyone be able to enjoy the beach / the poolside without worrying about drowning?
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Our vision:
“Saving lives through water safety.”
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“Swim a Life” was started by Maurice and Gaby Edelson, two qualified swim teachers with years of experience in the swimming industry.
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Drowning is a worldwide crisis the numbers you will see are frightening and are underestimated in my opinion. This is due to the fact that in low-income nations where most of the drownings occur, they are not reported correctly nor are there reliable figures on those left with permanent disabilities caused by near-drowning experiences.
When we learnt these facts we felt that something had to be done to prevent these horrific numbers from escalating.
We have started Swim A Life to take on this challenge and try make a significant and noticeable difference. We want to involve individuals, swim schools, organisations and businesses all over the world to make a small effort, that collectively will make a massive difference to worldwide drowning. We will manage the business and work with worldwide communities to teach swimming to those that are not given that opportunity. Let’s help more children to learn this most valuable life skill that will keep them, and hopefully others, water safe.
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About what we do
According to the World Health Organisation 360000 people die from drowning every year- a figure that is presumed to be hugely underestimated.In many cases, the problem has been identified and many efforts have been made to try and address this. However, there is a difference between making people aware of the risk of drowning and making people truly water safe.
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Drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional death worldwide- its an accident that occurs when people are unable to help themselves or others in an unthinkable situation.The only way to make a real difference is to educate and teach. Currently learning to swim is a privilege. Swimming lessons are taught for a fee. In some developed nations very basic swimming lessons are part of the school curriculum, but certainly not available to children in developing countries.
The best way to stop this worldwide epidemic is to teach children and adults to swim. To make a lasting difference we need to make swimming lessons more readily available to more people around the world. Unfortunately in the countries that are most affected by drowning, swimming is not a priority, and even if it was, the expertise is just not there to be able to teach those in need.
We believe that Swim A Life can make a difference, we believe that in many countries the infrastructure is currently available but under-utilised because that they are only made available to those who can afford the “luxury” of swimming lessons. At Swim A Life we believe that there are a few solutions to this problem and that a solution should be tailored to a country or region's specific needs.
Before we start teaching, we need you to get on board to teach these vulnerable individuals around the world. Imagine if while you were teaching your child to swim, a little bit extra could be offered towards teaching a less fortunate child or adult to swim. Imagine getting a group of your child’s friends together to sponsor someone else’s swimming lesson’s. By getting together and sponsoring a few £ a month each, this problem will actually be worked on.
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Swim A Life has linked up with swimming schools in various countries who have spare capacity in their private swim schools. A discounted rate has been negotiated and Swim A Life will fund children, initially, to attend these swimming lessons. We will commit to a minimum of six months of lessons and if the child is still not water safe, we would continue with lessons for another six months. We will be starting in South Africa, followed by Vietnam. Swim A Life has a strong association with STA in the UK and works closely with STA to ensure that where possible the swim schools we select are accredited to STA.
Another solution we are currently working on is school pools, that are not being used due to lack of funding and expertise. In these situations, we will get the pool up and running and in conjunction with STA, find teachers that are looking to travel and see another country while passing on their knowledge and teaching skills. This solution gives us the largest scope to teach a much larger number of children to be water safe and is also our most cost-effective option.
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