Local News
Teaching East Timorese to swim Victoria Cosford
Local woman Meg Fisk has been teaching Byron Shire children to swim for the last eight years via her Water Babies program – and now plans to take it to East Timor. In liaison during that period with First Lady Kirsty Sword Gusmao, she is now preparing to head over there to launch Learn To Swim. ‘It’s an ongoing, sustainable venture where I’ll first be teaching the children then going back to teach the adults – eventually the people of the country will run it themselves’, Meg told The Echo. ‘I met Kirsty when she came to Byron Bay and was promoting her book at the Writers’ Festival. As part of my Arts degree in writing and the media I had studied East Timor and wondered what I could do there to make a difference, rather than just be a tourist. And so I thought of teaching swimming...’ Unlike in Australia where ‘we just take it for granted’, children in East Timor are not afforded the opportunity to learn to swim. ‘Swimming is very visual’, Meg said, ‘which is important considering language problems! ‘You can teach with your hands, your face, your body. I believe that within two weeks you can set up some safety and survival skills. It will be an intense program with lessons in the morning and in the afternoon – but this is just the start of a bigger picture. ‘I’ll be building relationships with the government and with the people I’ll be working with. Eventually I would like to get it into the public school system and for it to be a model or a template for non-Englishspeaking children elsewhere. I would also like to create a re-
Meg Fisk with her son Riley McCubbin.
lationship between Byron Bay and Dili the capital, for example – we have got so much and they’ve got nothing.’ Meg will be funding the trip herself ‘but I’m also looking to raise funds and equipment’, she said. She is looking for sponsors to donate equipment like kickboards and goggles – ‘I’d only need 20 to start with’ – as well as water sports-related businesses interested in invest-
ing $50 to print their logo on rash vests in support of Learn To Swim Timor Leste. The benefit to local business is an opportunity to be part of this pioneering program for swimming and water sports. Anyone interested in making a donation or in any way supporting Meg’s initiative can contact her by phoning 0408 833 988 or emailing her on mfisk101@live.com.
Small business funding NSW Minister for Small Business Peter Primrose has called on small businesses to apply for funding under the Strategic Business Clusters Program before the deadline on March 5. The government is providing $500,000 in funding for busi-
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The Byron Shire Echo March 2, 2010 3