We support Likkle Swimmers, Jamaica
Likkle Swimmers is a charity based on the south coast of Jamaica in an area called Treasure Beach. Its purpose is to provide free swimming lessons to children in the local area. This impoverished coastal community currently has no access to a public pool or swimming lessons, and this has led to multiple incidents of drowning.
Likkle Swimmers also aims to provide access to a local swimming pool for children aged 3-9, where they will be taught from a programme designed specifically for their age group. The children will not only learn a skill that will save lives, but in doing so will also improve their self-confidence and independence, thereby benefiting the wider community.
Penny has been keen supporter of the charity for a number of years and in April trained three teachers who went out to Jamaica to work with the charity. Charlotte, one of the charity founders, sent Penny a recent update on all their fantastic work . . .
“Hello everybody,
I wanted to apologise for not keeping you all in the loop as much as I would have liked. Crazy would be an understatement to life out here, but we are all enjoying ourselves and the children are just amazing.
We have met some very grateful families and thought you might be interested in the parents’ comments to see how your input has impacted some children's lives. https://likkleswimmers.com/parents-comments/
For 3-5 year olds we have had massive confidence building lessons, and they have been amazing at jumping in and getting their faces wet, and swimming with noodles. For 6+ years about 75% have been able to jump in and swim a full length of the pool unaided, which is 9m. They absolutely love the diving sticks as well.
We have found this such a rewarding experience and really don't want to leave. We have been lucky enough to find one extremely good lifeguard who has shown a big interest in helping in lessons and learning how to teach and so we look forward to working further with the locals next year.
The local community are in the middle of building a pool for us to use next year and we have had amazing support.
Our blog can be followed here... https://likkleswimmers.com/blog/
Thank you all again so much for your support and please fire any questions at me!
Charlotte”
