Update on the Children's Water Safety & Drowning Prevention Program

CMIRC-Kru Payu Swim Children’s Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Program

October is a month when schools in Chiang Mai have vacations, so our school-based water safety program also had a break. Now, at the end of October we are ready to resume our program for 4th-grade students (9&10 year-olds). We have already completed courses for 8 of the 11 municipal schools this Rotary year and schools Number 9 (Wat Ta Sah Doi) and Number 10 (Wat Dok Ngern) have just started their 15-hour courses during the last week of October. Students at School 11, our last school for the year, will begin their water-safety course in January. So, by February, we will have completed our third full year of survival swim and water safety instruction at the eleven municipal schools in Chiang Mai. Beginning next year, we will be able to say that every graduate of a municipal school in Chiang Mai will have had the opportunity to learn survival swimming and water safety, about 90% of the students take and successfully complete the course.

Oz Swim Aquatics of Brisbane Australia Training and International Certification Visit

Our swim instructor teams in Chiang Mai, Phuket, and a visiting team from Siem Riep, Cambodia are all excited about the coming visit of Eve Fraser, Director of Oz Swim Aquatics. She will bring a team of three internationally recognized swim instructors to do additional training for swim teachers in our Chiang Mai and Safe Child Thailand programs. The members of the Oz Swim Aquatic Team are traveling at their own expense and providing instruction at no charge. They will be in Chiang Mai from November 11 to 17 and in Phuket from November 18 to 24. During their stay in Chiang Mai, they will be hosted at a special recognition dinner by the Australian Honorary Consul, Ron Elliott. CMIRC, Kru Payu Swim, Bronco Kids Sports Club, the British International School in Phuket, and the Rotary Club of Patong Beach will all also host events to thank the Oz Swim Aquatics team for their volunteer service. In addition, CMIRC will sponsor one of our lead instructors for the Australian Swim Coaches and Teachers Association International Certification, and our partners Safe Child Thailand will sponsor international certification for the three lead trainers guiding the program expansion to Patong Beach, Lampang, and Phetchabun.