Swimming at Eastern Beach

from w
This afternoon we had an excellent time at Geelong Eastern Beach, four boys from eleven to eighteen in the water. However one of the boys, an Aussie had a fear of deep water so only wanted to stay in shallow water even though he knew the basic swimming strokes. With a bit of patience, cajoling, and step by step we convinced him that he could go into the deep water near the diving tower. Jump away from the safety of a ladder into the water. Be able to float, to tread water, to swim with a football as security. Half an hour later he was swimming to and from a platform - quite some distance. A wonderful change in confidence. Thanks Epa, Jordan and Andrew for helping their friend to actually enjoy jumping into the deep end.

It is usually easy for Fiji children who live near the sea or a river to learn to swim though it's obvious from Fiji stories in the papers that there have been drownings. I believe that every child MUST learn water safety, to be able to stay afloat, to be able to swim a reasonable distance comfortably.

So today we feel pleased with the two hours of effort to teach the thirteen year old Aussie friend of our boys to be confident in the water.