Water. We’re soothed by it even knowing it’s wild and unpredictable. We corral it with dams and plastic bottles, but it still wiggles and spills and makes us laugh. It’s fun to be in if we’re relaxed with it.
In 2009, a boat full of school kids and teachers in Kerala, India, capsized in a river and they never made it home. One man, a shop owner, decided that familiarity with water was needed.
So, Saji Valasseril taught his kids water skills; then his friends’ kids; then the neighborhood kids and village kids. Pretty soon, Saji had a swimming club. Not for competition, for survival. He realized that most boat drownings are close to shore, so he taught people with their feet touching the riverbed to be comfortable in water. From there they moved into light currents.
Saji’s method is that each swimmer has a guardian who sits on the bank and watches only that one swimmer. At 5:30 a.m., when it’s cool. Saji’s swimming club has now taught 10,000 people, all ages, persuasions and abilities, how to thrive and survive in water. All for free.