NSRI Water Safety Programmes

On 8 December, the still waters of Elandsberg Dam rippled with laughter, courage, and determination. It was the National Sea Rescue Institute’s annual survival swimming exercise for children who graduated from the Riebeek Kasteel Survival Swimming Centre – a day when safety met community spirit and young learners put the lessons they had practised in a container pool to the test in a dam.

The event, which brought together NSRI volunteers, police divers, and the local farm community in a partnership built on trust and prevention, was filled with gratitude for those who teach, those who protect, and those who learn.

From Container to Dam

For many children in the Boland, swimming in open water is part of life but also carries unseen risks. NSRI Survival Swimming Instructor, Petro Meyer, designed the Elandsberg Dam exercise to help them face those challenges with confidence. “Last year I selected seven learners who have already mastered the four techniques of survival swimming we teach,” she explains. “We took them from the safe environment of the container to the dam with cold water, where they cannot see the bottom, to test them and see if they can apply the techniques we have taught them.”

The four techniques Survival Swimming Instructors teach are breathing, orientation, floating, and moving to a safe place. Together they form a simple but vital plan.

“Anybody can drown. Nobody should,” she says. “Our goal is to create a new culture to make people think differently about being safe around and in the water. Be responsible and remember, don’t panic, plan.”

Building Confidence in the Water

Each year, the Elandsberg exercise is about turning knowledge into calm and practical action. “In the Boland, it gets very hot, and the children go swimming in dams without parental supervision,” Petro says. “With survival swimming, we teach them how to help themselves if they get into trouble in the water.”

The training began gently. Instructors Mariette Gregor, Desiré Whiting, and Jennifer Kentgens guided each child into the dam using pool noodles, helping them adjust to the unfamiliar temperature and depth. Police divers stretched safety ropes across the water to secure the area. Warrant Officer Allister Boer from the Water Policing and Diving Services unit demonstrated how to use the pink rescue buoy that now stands beside the dam as a symbol of remembrance and safety after a tragic drowning some years ago.

The Strength of Community

For Petro, collaboration is key to preventing drownings. “A few years ago, after a little girl drowned in the dam, local farmer Mike Gregor contacted me, and we went to put up a pink rescue buoy at the dam. The community didn’t know what to do to save her. Just explaining to them the basic practical steps can make a huge difference.”

That act of remembrance became the start of an ongoing partnership. When NSRI installed the Survival Swimming Centre in 2022, residents immediately offered to help. “Mariette, Mike’s wife, called me immediately and offered her help and brought some of her friends with her,” Petro recalls. The police divers have also become valued allies. “They see it as better to prevent a child from drowning,” Petro says. “They share wonderful information with the children, and the children look up to them.”

A Lesson in Determination

Every year has a defining moment of courage, and this time it belonged to 14-year-old Lee Hano. After completing the initial drills, Lee asked if he could swim across the dam. With two police divers at his side, he crossed the width and back, using the pink buoy only twice. “Seeing his face after he finished, it was priceless,” Petro says. “That was another lesson learned. Remember, you can’t swim for long periods at a time and never swim alone.”

The workers who joined the training also found inspiration. “They were amazed at how easy it is to help someone who is in trouble in the water,” Petro reflects. “I believe that they spread the word to the entire farm community. All of them want us to teach them to swim now.”

Creating a Safer Future

Every breath, stroke, and smile at Elandsberg Dam speaks to the same message of hope and safety. Through the dedication of volunteers, police officers, and families, NSRI continues to build a culture that values calm thinking and self-rescue skills.

Elandsberg Dam, once touched by tragedy, now echoes with laughter and learning. As 2025 came to a close, the NSRI team ended the year with full hearts, proud of the children they taught and confident in the safety skills spreading through their community.

Links:

• https://www.nsri.org.za/2026/01/courage-and-collaboration-at-elandsberg-dam/

In 2006, a Learn-to-Swim teacher named Eoudia Erasmus walked into classrooms around Ceres with a simple but powerful mission: to teach children how to be safe around water. She had seen too many young lives at risk in communities where rivers, dams, and farm reservoirs became playgrounds for unsupervised children. That year, she reached 6 500 children with lessons in water safety.

Eoudia remembers those early days vividly. “The children, especially those from farm schools, showed great excitement and interest. They participated with enthusiasm, and teachers were so grateful for the lessons. These early experiences definitely confirmed the importance of continuing and growing the programme.”

But growth did not come easily. Funding and transport were constant challenges, particularly in rural areas where drowning risks were highest. What kept the programme alive was passion – hers, her fellow instructors’, and that of leaders like Andrew Ingram, who guided the team with unwavering belief in its potential.

Step by step, the programme expanded. Training new instructors, often from within the communities themselves, proved to be a turning point. These local instructors could speak the children’s home languages and build trust quickly. Partnerships with schools, municipalities, and community leaders helped anchor the programme across the country.

By 2024, the Water Safety Programme had grown beyond what anyone could have imagined in those first lessons in Ceres. Over 877 000 children were reached in a single year, each learning not just how to be safe but also how to respond in emergencies, hands-on CPR, and even take part in free Survival Swimming lessons.

For Eoudia, the numbers tell only part of the story. “The greatest joy for me is knowing that disadvantaged children, who are often the most at risk, now have the chance to learn to be safe in and around water. Together, we are not only teaching lessons, we are saving lives.”

The next generation of leadership now carries forward that sense of purpose. In 2025, the programme officially became part of the NSRI’s new Community Programmes department, headed by the newly appointed Mthe Kweyama. For him, the role is the culmination of a lifelong journey that began as a swimmer, then progressed to junior lifeguard, and ultimately became a lifeguard coordinator.

Mthe’s vision builds on the foundation Eoudia and her colleagues laid. He plans to expand the reach of Community Programmes through a stipend initiative and new volunteer system, ensuring that more instructors can reach more communities.

He wants survival swimming to become a life skill, not just a message. “Communities shouldn’t only hear about water safety,” he says. “They should actively learn it.”

He also sees the programme as a pathway, inspiring young people to become lifeguards, opening doors to careers in the water economy, and forging stronger partnerships with schools and local leaders.

Almost two decades after Eoudia taught her first class, the mission remains: protect children, prevent drownings, and save lives. What has changed is the scale and the vision. With Mthe leading the way, the NSRI’s Community Programmes stand ready to reach even further, carrying the baton into the future, one child, one community, one life at a time.