It’s an alarming statistic. More than 2,000 children drown every year in Vietnam and it’s the leading cause of child death. But one man is on a mission to turn this figure around and with his organisation he’s already making progress.
Meet Graham Buckley, whose love of the water turned into a passion to teach children to swim.
Societies have evolved and flourished on rivers for centuries. It was in these places that fish could be caught, farms irrigated, and transport for trade was made easy. Some of the world’s greatest cities have formed on rivers. Cairo on the Nile. Paris on the Seine. London on the Thames.
One thing we love about SwimTayka is the wonderful people we get to meet across the world.
So we’d like to introduce Paul, who works with our partner Otra Cosa Network (OCN). OCN’s focus is teaching English to Peruvian youngsters living in Huanchaco, as well as running programmes on literacy, environmental awareness and swimming – which is where we come in.
In October of 2020, Central Vietnam experienced unprecedented relentless storms. The typical rainy season usually only lasts for about 2 months with an average of 5 or 6 storms. Last year, the country saw 14 typhoons and tropical storms cause extreme flooding in many regions taking over 200 lives.
When people think of Bali they usually imagine beautiful beaches, stunning landscapes, friendly people, a welcoming culture and delicious foods.
However, there’s another side many people might not think about at first but soon becomes very evident once they arrive. Bali has a massive plastic issue.
A year of Covid – who would have thought that this would be upon us for such a long time? We were devastated that we have had to postpone our projects until travel restrictions were lifted, but we knew it was the right thing to do. It has been tragic for our programmes they have just stopped; however, it has also provided us with an opportunity as many people are taking more time to assess what they want to do with their time. As such, our core team has grown to twelve people from finance to legal and policy making. They are worldwide in Singapore, Vietnam and Tanzania. These are all very dedicated individuals, and we welcome them all with open arms as SwimTayka takes on growth.
There’s a great saying we came across at SwimTayka which goes “one language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way” and this is spot on when it comes to the project we partner with in Peru.
We are kicking off the year with a bit of a rebrand and we hope that you will like it.
As you may already know our aim is to teach the life skills of swimming and water stewardship so protecting future generations of children and safeguarding our precious open water environments across the globe.
Itacare, Southern Bahia in Brazil is one of the top destinations for surfers and tourists from around the world with miles of white-sand beaches and turquoise water. Located where the rainforest and the Atlantic meet, this beautiful city is known for its lively nightlife, welcoming people, and tranquil nature.
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| We provide free swimming lessons and environmental education about clean water stewardship to underprivileged children who live along the earth’s open water: rivers, lakes and oceans. |
