Hi Everyone,
It’s June and Swimdo classes are running with full force! We are currently teaching at four locations daily from Monday – Friday in Gianyar and the Buleleng regency. We are also happy to announce that we just opened a new Swimdo school in the Badung regency.
Badung is the third regency where Swimdo has opened a new swimming school. The regency covers most of most populated and touristic areas in Bali. Many of the tourist attractions in Badung are water related activities. The beaches around Badung are very popular among tourists and locals, yet it is also quite dangerous for swimmers because in some areas the currents can be very strong.
In 2017, Kuta Beach itself recorded 148 drowning incidents with 9 fatalities. This is only on one beach, the other beaches on the Badung coastline may have larger numbers of drowning incidents but due to a lack of data and reporting, the true numbers are unknown.
Our target demographic in Badung will be children aged 8 – 15 years old. On Thursday, we will teach our very first class in Sibang. Our first students will come from around the area of Sibang and Mambal villages. They are a group of students enrolled in the Green School International School community service program, called the Kulkul Connection. The Green School provides a free after school English class for local children in the area, and now we have teamed up with them and will provide Swimdo water safety and survival swimming classes for these students.
In Indonesia, more and more people recognize how important it is to teach water safety to children that live near the water. We will also be working with the teachers at The Green School to bring our Swimdo water safety program to their elementary students. This collaboration class will start at the end of this year.
As always, we could not do any of this without the support and encouragement of our donors and our personal networks that continue to provide opportunities to the children of the world. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Indira Santi, Director, Bali