Things are winding down for the year in the Children’s Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Program (CWSDPP). March and April are school summer holidays in Thailand, and since all of our programs are school-based, this is our slow season. It is also the busiest season for our swim instructors working with their private students, so our staff is mostly unavailable this time of the year. However, we did manage to get one more class done before the school break.
Australian Direct Aid Program GrantIn March, our Australian Aid-funded CWSDP program in Phrao continued working with The Warm Heart Foundation, our NGO partner there. We completed the second course in Phrao on March 8. We have now offered survival swimming and water safety instruction to sixty of the one-hundred forty 4th grade students at the Ban Chaeng Khu Ruang School (ร.ร.บ้านแจ่งกู่เรือง).
CWSDPP Committee members CP Roger, Rtn. Gawain, and I were there for the last day of the second course. What a difference from the first day of the first course where many children were very anxious. They now swim, float, and play in the water. We also took the opportunity to meet with Evelind Schecter and Khun Nian, who are our local CWSDPP representatives in Phrao. Evelind is co-founder with Michael Shafer of the Warm Heart Foundation.
Petchabun Training of local instructors in Petchabun will take place in May and the program will begin in mid-May and run until July. We anticipate between one-hundred and one-hundred forty 4th-grade children will be taught survival swimming and water safety.
Patong Beach
The Rotary Club of Patong Beach Larry Amsden Swim Safe Programme, under the leadership of program chair, Johan Storck, will continue the program with the Ban Sai Nam Yen School this year, with approximately one-hundred 4th-graders
Chiang Mai, CMIRC-Sponsored ProgramIn January, we completed the Children’s Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Program for Rotary Year 2018-2019 with all eleven municipal school 4th grades successfully completing the program. We are now planning a certificate ceremony for these children between October and February. The ceremony is planned for May, visitors and donors are welcome to attend.
We have requested CMIRC funds to continue the program for the next Rotary Year beginning in July and the CMIRC Service Projects Committee and Board have approved the request. We have also sought grant funds for this program from the The British Community in Thailand Foundation for the Needy (B.C.T.F.N, under the auspices of the British Embassy-Bangkok). We should know soon, if they have approved our CWSDPP for funding.