Practical rescue operation during training in Nkhata Bay in 2020
* Alongside an expert from South Africa, Deon Woodley, we trained several young people in Nkhata Bay in life saving skills
* The area around Chikale Beach there is very deep and though the local communities are good swimmers, they were only able to save those in trouble back to shore
* But they didn’t have the techniques to resuscitate people who had drowned
By Duncan Mlanjira
Lifesavers Society of Malawi is on a serious campaign to inculcate a culture among swimming pool service providers to provide professional life saving measures.
This comes after noting that many such service providers, including the hospitality industry, tend to employ swimming pool cleaners and attendants, who have no training of any sort in life saving.
In an interview, one of the leaders of Lifesavers Society of Malawi Lyyton Mabeti, who is a qualified lifeguard by profession and swimming instructor at St. Andrews International High School in Blantyre, said they have reached out to international high schools such as Kamuzu Academy, Bishop Mackenzie, Hill View, St. Andrews itself as well as local communities around the deep waters of Lake Malawi in Nkhata Bay.
Mabeti and Woodley before departure for Nkhata Bay in 2020
“Alongside an expert from South Africa, Deon Woodley, we trained several young people in Nkhata Bay in life saving skills,” he said. “The area around Chikale Beach there is very deep and though the local communities are good swimmers, they are able to save those in trouble back to shore.
“But they didn’t have the techniques to resuscitate people who had drowned. Now resorts in Nkhata Bay engages the ones we trained to keep an eye on guests swimming in the lake as well as those in swimming pools.”
The exercise took place in 2020 where Woodley and Mabeti successfully concluded the first phase of imparting lifeguard and rescue skills to local youths of Nkhata Bay District in the drive to prevent and stop drowning along the shores of Lake Malawi.
It attracted a group of 10 lifeguards, who patrol Chikhale Beach during peak holiday periods and Mangani thus says the Lifesavers Society of Malawi is seriously encouraging hospitality owners along Lake Malawi to make sure they have well trained lifeguards on their beaches with a constant eye on those swimming as well as those relaxing on beach decks.
Woodley and the participants
Mabeti chatting with primary school learners on WaterSmart
He added that he also took an initiative to train primary school learners of Ndirande communities such as Namalimwe, Chitsime, Blantyre Girls, Henry Henderson Institute (HHI) and Nyambadwe using facilities courtesy of St. Andrews International School.
“They were first trained in basic swimming techniques for personal survival and on life saving such that they can use in their own communities.
“Empowered like this, they can inspire other young minds to take up swimming as well as train in some life saving techniques.”
He emphasised that learning how to swim is vital for all even if you don’t live along lake water bodies or rivers, adding that life saving techniques can be used during disasters of flooding.
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Homeowners who have swimming pools are also encouraged to engage with the Society for them and their children to be trained to learn to swim as well as save lives of those who might get drowned.
Lifesavers Society of Malawi is in the process of getting registered so that they can properly regulate processes of life guarding on beaches as well as inculcate the culture of life saving.
Mangani is currently in South Africa for another advanced lifesaving academy — the 2024 Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) Commonwealth-Africa’s Drowning Prevention Development Workshop.
He has been attending these academies in 2006, 2008, 2012, 2017 and that every year experts from South Africa come to Malawi to conduct refresher workshops for the Society — and another has been planned for this coming December.
According to RLSS, in 2021, the United Nations passed its first ever Resolution on Global Drowning Prevention, committing to greater efforts to prevent drowning, a leading cause of injury-related death and disability.
“Drowning has been described by the World Health Organisation as a serious and neglected public health threat that claims more than 300,000 lives annually.
“It is the leading cause (after infancy) of child death and adolescent in many ASEAN nations,” says RLSS, adding that the purpose of the workshop is attending “is to foster greater sharing of knowledge, skills and expertise between RLSS member organisations from low- and middle-income countries in Africa in an effort to build their respective drowning prevention capacity and capability”.
Practical resuscitation exercise
Representatives at the workshop as from RLSS member organisations in Malawi, Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda Zambia and the hosts South Africa, who “collectively contribute to improved understanding of drowning prevention efforts to address the high burden of drowning in Africa”.
The objectives of the Workshop are to:
* foster sharing knowledge, skills and expertise between members within the region in an effort to strengthen the network of support for their drowning prevention mission;
* share best practices in each country – e.g. organisation structure, governance, survival swimming, CPR, lifesaving and lifeguard training programs, drowning prevention strategies, government and other NGO relations thereby providing RLSS and its member organisations a greater understanding of respective capabilities and needs;
* foster greater awareness of the actions contained within the 2021 UNGA Resolution on Global Drowning Prevention and the 2023 World Health Assembly (WHA) Resolution Accelerating Action on Global Drowning Prevention;
* explore how survival swimming and CPR can contribute to a reduction in drowning in each nation by providing the next generation with swimming survival and CPR skills; and
* distribute mini Anne plus kits that have been provided through a sponsorship program between Laerdal Medical, Navarino (maritime technology company) and RLSS, to the nominated low- and middle-income RLSS member organisations including how to use, pack, store and maintain the manikins and a refresher on delivering a CPR class.
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