Sally Elliott '08 and Brenna Hughes '09 recently founded their own non-profit organization called Swim to Empower. The program will offer swimming lessons to members of the community of Deep Creek on the tiny Bahamian island of Eleuthera.
While Deep Creek is primarily a coastal region, at least 80 percent of the 500-person community does not know how to swim. Swim to Empower intends to address this bizarre paradox, one that is increasingly being recognized as a global issue.
In March, Hughes and Elliott will return to Deep Creek to spend a term teaching swimming, first aid and water safety to members of the community. They hope to be able to make the program self-sustainable by training their best students to be instructors and lifeguards.
Elliott and Hughes, who both plan to major in environmental studies, met in Eleuthera in the spring of 2003 during a high-school study abroad program called the Cape Eleuthera Island School. Both were attracted to the emphasis the school put on marine biology and environmental stewardship.
While working with children in Deep Creek through the community outreach component of their studies, Hughes and Elliott were surprised to discover that many of the islanders could not swim at all.
After returning from Eleuthera and discussing this problem, the two decided to take action.
"We both grew up in coastal towns in Massachusetts and so it was especially hard for us to go back to our homes after we had left the Island School and see how easy it is for American kids to have swimming lessons and how it's really taken for granted," Hughes said. "These kids really have no way of learning how to swim just because the knowledge isn't in the community."
Still not knowing the degree to which this was a problem in the community, Hughes and Elliott returned to Eleuthera this past summer. Through surveys and research they learned that many of the islanders would welcome swimming lessons.
"It was important for us to realize that people in the community wanted to learn to swim," Elliott said. "We wanted the program to come out of the community and not be imposed."
With the help of Willamae Sweeting, an influential member of the Deep Creek community, Elliott and Hughes organized a swimming program. For the next several weeks, the two instructed 15 individuals ranging in age from seven to 45 on basic swimming skills.
After they returned from the summer in Eleuthera, concrete plans for their organization began to form.
The 200-square mile island of Eleuthera is home to approximately 8,000 people, many of whom descended from slaves brought to farm the island's inhospitable land.
Eleuthera is an island devastated by poverty and an 80 percent unemployment rate since tourism collapsed in the late 1970s.
In addition to the obvious practicality of being able to swim in a coastal region, Hughes and Elliott hope the program will empower its students to feel safe while fully experiencing their surroundings. The two hope the exposure to local ecosystems that the Eleuthrans will receive through the program will also increase their interest in the environment and dedication to maintaining it.
Elliott and Hughes were also very interested by the immense impact that the United States has on a place like Eleuthera, an island which most Americans have never heard of. Some islanders even told the two that the reason they feared swimming in the ocean was because of the movie Jaws.
"We wanted to be really sensitive to the community," Hughes said. "It's so important to stay aware of the fact that everything we are doing is very culturally sensitive."
Ultimately, the two hope the program can expand to other communities around the world where this problem exists. They hope to have a better idea of the direction of the program after returning this spring.
So far the duo has held one fundraiser in Stratford, Vt. They are currently seeking more funds through donations and grants and are hoping for donations of first aid supplies, bathing suits and goggles.
