Drowning is a major cause of death in South Africa, where far too many people cannot swim, writes Janette Bennett
A howling wind is bringing rain. It’s cold. But that does not stop these teachers from learning how to teach children to swim. As their coach, German swimming champion Jens Stroh-meyer, puts them through their paces, they hold hands to form a circle, then a snake.
You forget that some of these teachers, from informal settlements and rural areas in the Eastern Cape cannot swim themselves. It’s the first time some of them have been in a swimming pool.
They are laughing. But not for a second do they forget why they are at this public pool in Parkside, East London.
Each of them – there are 23 here, 23 were trained in Aliwal North the previous week, and more were trained in Umtata and King William’s Town later – will go back to their schools and teach learners about water safety. Perhaps, one day, swimming will develop as a sport, but first, their charges will learn how to survive.
Drowning is a major cause of death in South Africa, believed to be the second biggest unnatural cause of death after road accidents. Most drownings take place in inland water – in dams and rivers – although sea drownings tend to peak over the festive season. SA Lifesaving says 94% of the 263 drownings reported to it from police stations in 2000 took place in fresh water. Many drownings are not reported.
Based on SA Lifesaving figures, more drownings take place in the rural provinces – Mpumalanga (23%), Northern Cape (20%), Eastern Cape (18%) and KwaZulu-Natal (17%).
The sad reality is that most schools do not have swimming pools, and children grow up without having learned the basics of water safety. They cannot save themselves if they slip and fall into water; they certainly cannot save others.
These teachers are here today to take part in a water safety project, a partnership between the Eastern Cape Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, the Ruhr University of Bochum’s Sport Youth of Northrhine-Westphalia programme and the United School Sport Association of South Africa.
“We chose teachers because they are multiplicators – they will reach the most people,” Stroh-meyer says. A former European Masters champion who has just completed his physical education studies at Bochum, he is passionate about his cause. South Africa, he says, “produces perfect swimmers, but very little has been done in poor areas”.
The Northrhine-Westphalia programme was once part of Sport Against Crime, but it was decided to focus on one area, the Eastern Cape, partly because of the rural and impoverished nature of the province and partly to allow a sense of continuity. A coach, like Strohmeyer, visits once a year.
Pat Lottering, responsible for swimming in the Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, says the organisers encourage teachers to join a swimming structure after the course.
“This allows us to take over, and continue the development, through the year. We are now looking for former model-C schools who are willing to ‘adopt’ a rural school so their teachers can use their facilities.”
Swimming, Lottering adds, “is a lifesaving skill. Each human being must learn how to swim. And teachers have easy access, through learners, to their communities.”
Strohmeyer says the three-day course does not teach people how to swim, but rather introduces them to the basics of water safety. Many do learn to swim, however. For Bafo Qabaka and Kwayiyo Bonani, teachers at the Kwenxura Public School at Mooiplaas, about 40km from East London, this is the first time they have been in a swimming pool. Neither could swim before they took part in this course.
“Today I floated,” Qabaka says. They are also learning CPR and the basics of swimming strokes, as well as how to teach these skills to schoolchildren. And both say they will continue learning themselves.
“We see so many drownings – swimming must be taught at every school,” Bonani says. “It should be compulsory.”
A problem, Qabaka says, is that most schools, particularly those in rural areas, do not have swimming pools. “We have to teach the children in natural water, but we’ve been taught what to look out for. For instance, you should not dive into murky water.”
It was also the first time Herbert Sebetshu, a physical education teacher from Newlands, near Stutterheim, had been in a pool. “Now I can give something back to my community. I hope I can introduce the basics of swimming all over Newlands.
“It’s about safety, and getting children used to swimming, but perhaps one day it can develop into a sport.”
Thobeka Tshineka, a teacher from Mdantsane, is back for her second year of the course. “I couldn’t swim last year. I can now, and I’ve been teaching children about swimming. There is no pool for us in Mdantsane, so I’ve taken the children to dams to learn.
“Once we went into town, but it costs R3,50 for each child to get into the public pool – children from farm schools cannot afford this.”
– The Teacher/M&G Media, Johannesburg, December 2001.