Our busload of kids, parents and volunteers headed to Coogee beach to meet up with the families from Kids Giving Back for the final session of the program. It was a great relief that the day was fine after the Bondi beach experience earlier in the year.
After some beach games everyone, kids and parents, attended a workshop at the club where they learnt lots about beach water safety prior to getting in the water – the kids were saying ‘white water good, green bad’ in the bus on the way home! The water safety component was particularly good for the HARDA group, most of whom have little beach experience.
After the safety session everyone headed down to the beach. The kids, full of toe hopping excitement & some trepidation, had such fun in the waves with the wonderful lifesavers from Coogee Surf Lifesaving Club. Each life saver took a child in each hand which was such wonderful as it allowed the more adventurous to venture out safely and the more timid to take their time and overcome their nerves and get their confidence in the waves. Both the lifesavers and the kids had a great time and our kids learnt lots from these wonderful Australian role models.
After the beach it was a mad rush to get everyone fed and back on the bus for the trip home. Many thanks to our partners, Kids Giving Back, for arranging such a fun day, which was enjoyed by our families and theirs. We both believe that the program has increased the mutual understand of two quite diverse and disparate groups involved, where the kids saw how many more similarities there were between them than the differences.