International Women’s Day is the perfect opportunity to recognise the incredible women that are moving Nile Swimmers forward in Sudan. Women first become involved in Nile Swimmers’ drowning prevention programmes in March 2015. Since then, more and more women have become involved in the organisation.
The involvement of women in our work over the last three years is due to the determination and perseverance of Mai Elamin and Sabrina Kashif (now members of our Management Team) who refused to take “no” for an answer to the question “Can women join programmes to learn water safety and rescue skills too?” Last year, we were recruited Hind Elseed, our first Country Director, who is driving the organisation and our programmes forward in innovative ways. There are also countless female volunteers working as instructors, teaching water safety messages in schools, and as risk mappers, helping communities to identify and mitigate drowning risks in their area.
These women are brave, determined and strong. They have fought for their right to water safety education, they fight for their right to raise their voices and spread that message, and they continue to fight for a Sudan where every child, regardless of gender, grows up in a safe environment with the knowledge and skills they need to prevent drowning. The women on our team tackle daily challenges in pursuit of this goal and they constantly surprise us with the speed at which they drive us forward despite these obstacles. To all of those women, the Nile Swimmers team wants to say “thank you” for your hard work. You are an inspiration to men and women globally working to make life safer around the water.
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