Six young women from Burma and Vietnam are now patrolling the beach having completed training to become active lifesavers.
After two years of developing swimming skills, it was time for six young women aged between 13 and 16 to take a leap into life saving training before Christmas.
Chi Chi Hsar said she has always loved swimming and wanted to use the skill to help people.
“I decided to get myself involved in lifesaving for I thought it would be a great experience for me to try,” she said.
“I hope to be able to help people by becoming a lifeguard, I also wanted to learn some new techniques and tips so that I could improve.”
Another of the new livers, Dah Dah Hsar, said lifesaving training overall became a memorable journey.
“I joined to get some idea of how to help everyone who went to the beach, since drowning is a very distressing situation to be in, I don’t want that to happen at any beach even though sometimes it can’t be helped,” Dah Dah said.
“One of my swimming teachers [growing up] saw my distress of deep water and told me something i would never forget, ‘water is mischievous at times but once you make a bond with it and have a clear idea that it can do nothing to you once you know you’re the boss of it’ helped me with my fear that some of us would probably have.”
Life Saving Victoria (LSV) diversity and inclusion coordinator Blair Morton said the new recruits have been fantastic additions to the team in and out of the water.
“We think it is crucial that Victoria’s lifesaving movement represents the community it works so tirelessly to protect,” he said.
“Having a diverse volunteer workforce is a benefit to both lifesaving clubs and the new communities who are represented, improves the water safety outcomes of new communities, and offers new perspectives for lifesaving clubs to think and act in innovative and meaningful ways.”
– Gerald Lynch
