Nile Swimmers

Working to stop drowning in Africa

Timeline

  • 2007 – March – Nile Swimmers concept was started by the British Council (Sudan),  with the Sudanese Sea Scouts coordinating on-the-ground activities. The training was delivered by two international instructors (Dan Graham & Tom Mecrow). 25 participants attended the project from both North and South Sudan.  The British Council were very pleased with the outcomes of the project – and it was held in high regard across the Africa region as one of their most successful projects that year.
  • 2008 – March – A second project (delivered by Dan Graham & Tom Mecrow) funded by the British Council in Sudan and coordinated by Sudanese Sea Scouts.  Exceptional candidates from 2007  returned to assist with the delivery to the new cohort and undertake ‘train the trainer’ exercises. The programme developed, and was more ambitious in terms of the range of content – introducing swimming teacher training.
  • 2011 – May –  Three Nile Swimmers representatives attended the World Conference on Drowning Prevention in Vietnam, where they made an oral presentation about the work of the Nile Swimmers so far. The support and encouragement were overwhelming.
  • 2011 – October – Nile Swimmers Project ran in Khartoum again.  This time there was only participants from the new post-separation Sudan. A unique participatory approach to drowning prevention was undertaken, moving away from traditional teaching methods and facilitating the development of local solutions to local drowning problems.
  • 2013 – July  – One Sudanese Nile Swimmers representative (Mosab Ali) attended the RNLI Future Leaders in Lifesaving programme based in Poole, UK.
  • 2013 – October –  Two Nile Swimmers representatives (Dan Graham & Tom Mecrow) made seven oral presentations at the World Conference on Drowning Prevention in Potsdam in Germany, and providing technical support to programme development in Lebanon.
  • 2015 – March – Nile Swimmers return to Khartoum, Sudan (Dan Graham & Becky Sindall) to deliver both a pioneering male and female instructor training programme.
  • 2015 – September – Nile Swimmers starts a technical partnership with the Ministry of Education in Khartoum to deliver Aquatic Survival Training in the government schools around the city.
  • 2015 – October – Seven of the Nile Swimmers team attends the World Conference on Drowning Prevention in Penang, Malaysia – making four presentations about our work.
  • 2015 – November – In collaboration with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Nile Swimmers female instructors & lifeguards support #CrossingTheNile where the Dutch Ambassador swam across the Nile to raise awareness of the problem of drowning in Sudan.
  • 2016 – February – A Nile Swimmers delegate make one presentation, and feature in another at the Royal Lifesaving Society Commonwealth 125th Anniversary conference in London.
  • 2016 – March – Nile Swimmers trial a pool lifeguard programme designed for LMIC settings.  We also deliver the first ever female pool lifeguard programme in Sudan, qualifying nine of the participants. #TheseGirlsCan
  • 2016 – April – Nile Swimmers (funded by UNICEF) trial an extension of the Aquatic Survival Programme into the Kosti camps in White Nile State, specifically targeting the vulnerable South Sudanese children.
  • 2017 – The Aquatic Survival Programme in schools continued to grow from strength to strength.
  • 2017 – September – Nile Swimmers appointed Ms Hind Elseed as our Country Director.
  • 2017 – October – Nile Swimmers presented at WCDP in Vancouver, and took an active role in drafting the Vancouver Declaration on Migrants and Refugees.
  • 2019 – May – Nile Swimmers passed the 250 000 point of numbers of children trained in Aquatic Survival through the Ministry of Education.
  • 2019 – October – Nile Swimmers meet in Durban for #WCDP2019 the World Conference on Drowning Prevention, where two papers and one workshop will be presented.

The work of Nile Swimmers in Africa, and internationally continues…