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Children trained as lifeguards
The ability of lifeguards from Lebih village in Gianyar regency is undoubtedly good
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he ability of lifeguards from Lebih village in Gianyar regency is undoubtedly good. A number of villagers have gained sufficient trust to do the job abroad.
'There are 20 lifeguards in this village, and there are more than 50 others working abroad,' Wayan Gede Pradnyana, the village leader, said.
Since 2011, the village has held the annual Lebih Beach Festival at the end of the year to respect lifeguards and preserve the beach that village residents depend on for their livelihoods.
The festival includes a swimming competition with one race of 25 meters. Thanks to this competition, Surf Life Saving Australia became interested in facilitating the children in the village to learn about life saving and other ocean-related lessons.
'Since the beginning of this year, they came to us and invited us to work together teaching the local children to be lifeguards, or at least to be able to save themselves,' Pradnyana said.
He explained that Lebih village had been chosen by Surf Life Saving Australia because the village also had a swimming pool, a facility needed in lifeguard training to teach the children how to survive in the water.
'We sent a proposal to two elementary schools, SD 2 and SD 3 Lebih, asking them to allow their students to participate in the lifeguard training.'
The training is being conducted every Sunday morning at the beach, where the children undergo physical exercise, like running and swimming, as well as learning about the ocean, including waves, currents and safe zones to swim.
'We teach the children using a guide book provided by Surf Life Saving Australia, which contains lessons about basic lifeguard skills and first aid to save victims. We hope that the children can learn how to save themselves and others,' said the training coordinator Wayan Wisma.
Starting on March 23, the training has been running for four weeks. In the first week, there were 270 children from the two schools taking part. However, the number of participants dwindled over time.
In the fifth week, the children will take tests to evaluate their ability to understand the lessons and to test their physical endurance.
Knowing there will be competitions and prizes, the number of children registering for the event has increased to 300.
