By Justin Flynn
DARRYL Beales has a passion for helping kids learn to swim.
The Ocean Grove electrician is heading to Vietnam in late September to take part in the Water Safety Vietnam program, aimed at teaching young Vietnamese how to swim.
It’s estimated that a staggering 35 Vietnamese kids drown every day.
Darryl will not only help teach children, but also train local swimming instructors.
“Can you imagine if those sorts of statistics applied to Australia?” Darryl said.
“All kids should be able to learn to swim no matter where they’re from.”
Darryl is no stranger to helping with water safety. He’s coached Nippers, is a Surf Life Saving Club patrol member and teaches swimming at Bellarine Aquatic and Sports Centre.
He’ll spend four weeks in Vietnam.
“We will be ferrying children to swimming pools from outlying villages and teaching as many kids as possible basic water safety, swimming techniques and even some CPR skills,” he said.
“In an aim to make the program sustainable we will also be upskilling locals to learn to be swim teachers.”
After taking voluntary redundancy at Ford, Darryl has settled into working as a contractor.
“When the opportunity came up, I approached my boss and he said ‘it’s too good an opportunity to miss out on’ so I decided that I would do it,” he said.
