The UK space agency allows their staff volunteering time for charities and Jody Fry prepared and published this article on the internal news about SwimTayka.

Thank YOU for everything you’ve done this year to help SwimTayka grow. Together we are building the next generation of confident swimmers and clean water stewards. Thanks to you (and especially to Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation) last year we hit some benchmarks.

From October 30 to November 2, 30 teachers from primary and secondary schools in the Quang Dien district of Thua Thien Hue province and 10 trainees from the District Women’s Union participated in a train-the-trainers workshop on drowning prevention and water stewardship.

Did you know we are putting together a number of teams to swim the English Channel as a relay for SwimTayka?

See what other Channel Relay swimmers have to say about it!

Crossing by night. the moon underlines the dark breathing and swelling masses. We swam with luminescent sparkles. A night was magnifying perceptions while at the same time losing the sense of space and time.

For anyone who lives in a country like the UK or US, becoming a swimming teacher is pretty straightforward. If you have the time and a relatively small amount of money you can find a whole number of courses to become qualified. In places such as Zanzibar however it’s a completely different scenario. It is hard enough to learn how to swim there, let alone be in a position to teach.

SwimTayka partnered with ETIV do Brasil this year to offer free swimming lessons and environmental conservation classes to children and youth living in Itacaré, Bahia, Brazil. This was such an incredible experience for the children here, primarily because ETIV is located in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Itacaré and most of the children here have never had the opportunity to take swimming lessons, and some of the children were even afraid of the water when the programme first started!

Along with Save the Bay, SwimTayka are providing a valuable working partnership to educate the children of the Bahamas in swimming and environmental, he is what Rashema Ingraham, Executive Director of Waterkeepers Bahamas has to say:

Victoria Dolceamore, of Margate, attempted to swim the English Channel last week as part of a relay team, but they did not make it to France because one of the swimmers had a stroke as a result of a seizure while swimming.

Our English Channel Relay team making the attempt on Friday 3rd August, unfortunately had to be aborted.

One of SwimTayka supporters, Becky Horsburgh  travels from London to Bangladesh to teach the children to swim, here is an article that Becky has written that featured in Curiosity Magazine