Supporting Love the Oceans
At last month’s national conference, STA as part of its charitable objective reached out to delegates to raise funds for the Love the Oceans charity, and thanks to your generosity £500 was raised. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have previously recognised Love the Ocean’s important work encouraging a lifelong love of the ocean.
These much-needed funds will now go towards the maintenance and upkeep of the swimming pool that the Love the Oceans charity are building in Guinjata Bay, an area in Mozambique renown for its rich marine life, to encourage children there to love the water and inspire a life-long love of the ocean. The swimming pool will help around 200 children a year to learn how to swim. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have previously recognised Love the Oceans as one of their ‘Forces for Change’ and supported the charity’s work.
Drowning is a major issue in this part of the world, in the last 2 years alone there have been 13 deaths in Guinjata. Teaching children how to swim and to be water safe is important, not only to save lives, but to encourage a passion for the marine environment and its inhabitants. However, the biggest challenge for the charity and its team of swimming teacher volunteers is having only one swimming pool in the area. Currently children are transported on the back of a pick-up truck for 30 minutes to a local dive resort, Pleasure Bay, who kindly volunteer the use of their pool. A community-owned pool will double the amount of lessons Love the Oceans can provide to the community.
Being able to build and maintain their own community swimming pool, which has also received funding from Prince Harry, will mean the Love the Oceans Project will be able to double the amount of lessons it can provide the community and create paying jobs for the swim teachers they’ve trained. A community swimming pool will provide skills that are crucial to an area with growing marine eco-tourism. The ability to swim and to also offer qualifications, supported by STA, increases job opportunities and helps tackles poverty.
