19 June 2017
OpEd
from HSH Princess Charlene
In
partnership with the RNLI and Bloomberg Philanthropies
Water - it’s everywhere, and in
just about everything and everyone on this wonderful planet of ours. 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface is covered
by oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, and glaciers.
Water’s in the air we breathe, the ground we walk on, and we humans are
pretty much made up of water too. Water,
in short, is life. And for a long time,
water was my life. Discovering the joy
of swimming inspired me to dedicate 20 years of my life to training and
realising my dream to become an Olympic swimmer. Training and competing in the
water taught me the importance of discipline, respect for
oneself and others, team spirit and dedication. Most significantly, I saw how
learning to swim could not only change lives, as it did mine, but also save
lives.
My love affair with the water took me to
sporting heights and it remains a huge part of my life whether surfing or
paddleboarding, racing on a water bike for charity, crawling lengths in the
pool or splashing around with my children.
Despite that, I’m also all
too aware of the risks associated with water.
Learning to respect the water, and learning how to swim and stay safe in
it can reduce these risks and give us great confidence and freedom.
During my competitive swimming career, it was
important to me to share my passion and knowledge of the water with children,
and teach them how to be safe in the water.
Now I have my own children, one of my top priorities has been to teach
them to swim. It is an essential life
skill, like learning to safely cross a road.
Far too many people, often children, drown because they can’t swim. In
South Africa, where I grew up, drowning is the second leading cause of
accidental death after road accidents. It’s not much talked about. You could
say it’s a hidden epidemic in a supposedly dry continent. In fact, Africa has
vast swathes of seas, lakes and rivers.
In coastal cities like Dakar, Durban, Dar Es Salaam and Freetown, you
often find the shoreline crowded with people but as most of them can’t swim,
they simply dip their toes at the water’s edge. The trouble is that it doesn’t
take much for a child, or an adult, to slip and drown in a few centimetres of
water or be swept out by a rogue wave or current.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates
that drowning claims the lives of more than 60,000 children under the age of
five and more than 360,000 people globally each year. It claims a similar number of lives today as diseases
such as diarrhoea and measles did in the 1970s and 1980s. As with those then
leading killers, there must be a concerted and coordinated effort to prevent
deaths by drowning. Africa’s drowning death statistics are sadly the highest in
the world but they are such an everyday occurrence that they barely get a
mention in local media.
As Patron of the South African Red Cross
Society, I am promoting water safety and learning to swim, as well as first aid
and CPR training - for children and by children. Education like this is crucial to saving
lives and stopping the needless grief that afflicts the families of those who
drown.
In 2012, I set up my Foundation
to teach children essential water safety skills and how to swim and so far
we’ve reached over 300,000 people, mainly children, in 30 countries. Equipping young people with essential life skills will not just save lives, it
will prepare them for a future in which they
can be active and responsible citizens. For as Nelson Mandela reminded us in
1995, “Our children are the rock on which our future will be built, our
greatest asset as a nation. They will be the leaders of our country, the
creators of our national wealth, those who care for and protect our people”.
This is why, this year, we organized the Riviera Water Bike Challenge, a 21km
ProAm relay race from Nice to Monaco with 10 teams of 5 competitors, an event
which saw David Coulthard, Nico Rosberg, Paula Radcliffe, Ryk Neethling and
Percy Montgomery among others battle it out along the Cote D’Azur to be crowned
champions. The project raised the funds to design and establish the first
aquatic rescue centre in Burkina Faso, an ambitious project for my Foundation
in partnership with the Red Cross Monaco and the Red Cross Burkina Faso.
As we celebrate the joy,
laughter and future of our precious children, after last week’s Day of the African
Child, I urge the world’s governments to put water safety and the elimination
of drowning on the development agenda.
If countries, NGOs, and international bodies join forces, drowning need
no longer be a silent killer, whether in Africa or elsewhere. Together we can save lives – one person, one
family, one community at a time. Water
is precious and so are our children.
www.bloomberg.org
1) HSH teaching South African children as part of the South Africa - Monaco Rugby Exchange
Photo Credit: Gaetan Luci / Palais Princier
2) HSH teaching children first aid and CPR in Daveyton, Johannesburg
Photo Credit: Eric Mathon / Palais Princier
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