Dear friends and family,

I've recently become aware of the shocking number of people, specifically children, that drown each and every year across the world.

Large community surveys completed in the Asian Pacific suggest that nearly half a million children drown in this part of the world alone.

I will be participating in a Tread-A-Thon to raise money not only for our team but for SWIM Cambodia. SWIM Cambodia is a drowning prevention program that teaches water safety education, survival swimming skills, safe rescue techniques, and CPR/First Aid to the youth of rural Cambodia. SWIM is focused on creating a sustainable learning environment by providing Cambodians the training needed to become trainers themselves. 

On May 15th, I will be treading water for as long as I can to bring about awareness of this global public health crisis. Half of all the money raised will go to our swim team. The other half will go to the International Water Safety Foundation to help fund projects that save lives and teach life skills like SWIM Cambodia!

Over the next 30 days leading up to our Tread-A-Thon, I plan on learning more about drowning. I will be sharing my investigation into drowning online because the first step is to Raise Awareness. Please help me spread the word by sharing my story:

<link to your Tread-A-Thon campaign>

Thank you,

-Bob

6 Children Drown in Cambodia Every dayWe are lucky enough to walk into our kitchen, turn on the faucet, and get ourselves a glass of water. If our clothes are dirty, we put them in the washer machine. If our dishes are dirty, we put them in the dish washer.

One of the reasons why so many people drown every year is because they interact with water differently. They use natural bodies of water to drink, wash their clothes, and clean their dishes. They are inherently around natural water sources far more than us.

We are hosting a Tread-A-Thon on May 15th to help raise money to make children safe around water in Cambodia while also raising money for our team. The way that this works is, you make a flat donation to support me in treading water for up to two hours. You may pledge any amount that you like, and it may be tax deductible.

My goal is to be the top fundraiser in our club, so I’m focusing hard on Step 1:

Raising Awareness!

If you could please share my story it would be so helpful to us and SWIM Cambodia.

<link to your Tread-A-Thon campaign>

Thanks for your help!

-Bob

Nearly 50% of all child deaths in Cambodia are due to drowning.A large community survey consisting of 67,500 households completed in Cambodia found that only 6.6% of fatal drownings were seen at or reported to a healthcare facility. This is primarily due to the nature of drowning itself. One minute you are alive; and well, the next minute you are dead. There is no time to get to a hospital or other healthcare facility, which is where the drowning data is collected. Thus, making drowning drastically under reported and represented.

Drowning is the leading cause of child death in Cambodia. Greater than diarrheal disease, malaria, and other communicable diseases.

Our Tread-A-Thon is coming up soon on May 15th, which happens to also be International Water Safety Day. Please help me raise awareness of this silent killer by sharing our story:

<link to your Tread-A-Thon campaign>

(That’s “Thanks!” in Khmer!)

-Bob

Step 1 was to Raise Awareness. Step 2 is to Take Action.

Tomorrow is our Tread-A-Thon and ultimately our day to take action by providing lifesaving skillsets to thousands of children in Cambodia. Thank you all for your support over these 30 days of awareness.

Quite honestly, the thing I’m most surprised about is how deep I am in the swimming world yet how little I knew about the actual statistics on drowning. I didn’t realize what a privilege it is to know how to swim.

Again, thank you for supporting this much-needed cause! We will be on Facebook Live tomorrow at 6 PM so please tune in to watch us tread.

Time to tread,

-Nate

The first 6 Cambodian certified SWIM Instructors!

Thank you!

Thanks to you, our Tread-A-Thon was a huge success! Together, we raised over $10,000 for SWIM Cambodia!

You can stay up-to-date with SWIM Cambodia by following along here:

www.safetywhenitmatters.org

Like them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swimcambodia/Follow them on Twitter: https://twitter.com/swim_cambo

I can’t thank you enough for raising awareness and taking action with us. Drowning is largely preventable by learning to swim and, as you know, swimming is near and dear to my heart.

Have a wonderful summer!

-Bob