Ballito Lifeguards give of their own free time to teach young kids to surf for the Mr Price Redcap charity drive.

Linda grew up in an apartheid South Africa where beaches were for ‘whites only’ and swimming in the sea was a once-in-a-young-black-child’s-lifetime sort of thing. He was never given the privilege of swimming lessons and surf and sea was as foreign to him and his friends, living in Shaka’s Kraal a short distance from the ocean, as snow to the San in the Kalahari.

Linda is now an experienced lifeguard, manning the public swimming beaches of the Dolphin Coast and keeping holiday makers from the dangers of a moody Indian Ocean.

For Linda, the inherent ‘Healthiness’ of the sea and surf lifestyle is something he would like as many children as possible to learn. Linda is passionate about giving underprivileged kids from his impoverished hometown an opportunity he only got much later in life. Each Saturday, at the close of their guard shift, Linda and his lifeguard friends Bongani and Prince Thembeni escort thirty or so kids to Tompsons Bay Tidal Pool where Surfing and Fun is the goal.

As an extension of the Mr Price Pro, held annually at Williards Beach in Ballito over the July school holidays, the Mr Price Redcap Fund (The charity arm of Mr Price) funded the initial set-up of Linda’s sporting drive. Special training surfboards were supplied and some funds were allocated to give the children a picnic lunch on their day out. Linda and his friends continue the program today with as much enthusiasm as its initial launch.

The children arrived at Salt Rock Main Beach, packed onto the back of the municipal beach vehicle. Municipal Beach Manager Steve Honeysett is behind the endeavor one hundred percent and is proud of the initiative his staff have taken to educate and train an upcoming generation.

The municipal beach van is not ideal, and the team are desperate to find alternate means to transport the children from Shakas Kraal to the beach each Saturday afternoon. What began as just a handful of children is now growing to groups of 30 or 40 strong.

Exuberant children are led to Tompsons Bay (a couple of kilometers away) for their surf lessons. Children as young as 4 and as old as 13 or 14 sit in rapt silence as Linda explains, in a mixture of isiZulu and English, the dynamics of an approaching wave in the ocean and how to manoeuvre the surfboard to catch the best wave. A young boy with some experience (he attended the previous week) is called up to demonstrate how to hop and stand on the board with Linda acting an approaching wave of water descending on the young surfer, ready and waiting on his grassy verge.

With patience seldom seen in young children, the group is finally led to the water. The biggest issue the trainers have is that most of the young ‘surfers’ cannot swim. Their manpower is stretched to the limit as they handle so many children, eager and excited to learn, but without event the basic skill to stay afloat in the water.

As a bystander to the Saturday afternoon activities, I was impressed with the level of professionalism and dedication from the off-duty lifeguards and the enthusiasm and patience shown by the excited learners.

Linda and his team of lifeguards are doing something truly GREAT, offering not just an afternoon escape from conditions of hardship to so many underprivileged children, but introducing this future generation to a lifestyle that is in direct contrast to the predetermined path of their impoverished background into crime, substance abuse and misery.

Linda would really appreciate any help on a Saturday afternoon to support the many children who cannot swim as well as a regular commitment for transportation.Contact Linda on 078 335 9106