The World Conference on Drowning Prevention is here again. The two years between conferences seem to pass faster and faster. The Nile Swimmers team are excited to attend, and to present two papers, and one workshop. We are mostly excited because, for the first time ever, the conference is being held in the continent of Africa. The continent with the highest drowning rate. The continent with the least data. The continent that we love.
The timing of the conferences provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the work that we have done. Two years ago, we didn’t have a Country Director. Two years ago we were just starting to get our heads around Disaster Risk Reduction and the opportunities that sector provides. Two years ago, we hadn’t trained 250 000 children in Aquatic Survival messages.
The team members have changed as peoples lives have changed. People have left, people have joined. Some amazing fundraisers have dedicated huge amounts of time and effort to raising money for our cause. Wonderful grantors continue to support our major programmes. It is now 12 years since the first one-off project ran that has eventually become Nile Swimmers. It’s quite incredible to think how far we have come, and we’d like to thank every single person who has helped us on that journey.
#WCDP2019 Schedule
Hind Elseed is presenting Looking Upstream: A wider perspective on vessel safety in Sudan in session 8.4 in the Lion room at 13:30 on Wednesday 9th.
The whole team is running the workshop on Community Based Approaches to Drowning Risk Reduction in the Leopard room at 15:30 – 17:00 on Wednesday 9th.
Ali Assir is presenting Developing flood risk reduction programmes through community risk mapping in session 11.5 in the Leopard room at 11:00 on Thursday 10th.