Fund Swim Liberia's Lifesaving Lessons

Swim Liberia will be hosting its second learn-to-swim clinic for children in Monrovia, Liberia (West Africa) on June 10-14, 2024, and we need your help to raise $6,750.

Todd Aiken, co-founder of Swim Liberia, will be going to Liberia with the following instructors to teach 50 children to swim:

• Natalie Aiken – Todd’s daughter and a co-founder of Swim Liberia, Natalie swims for Carondelet High School (2024) and Orinda Aquatics. She will attend and swim at Georgetown University in the fall of 2024.

• Siena Santos – is a swimmer for Carondelet High School (2026) and Orinda Aquatics. Siena is the daughter of Roque Santos, USA swimmer in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

• Jon Lenchner – is a former Chief Scientist, IBM Research Africa, who lived in Kenya for several years with his family. An avid long-distance swimmer, Jon swam the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain to Morocco in 2009.

All of these instructors have experience teaching young people to swim.

This 5-day clinic will be done in partnership with the Beautiful Beginnings School in Monrovia Liberia. Ollie White, the headmistress of Beautiful Beginnings, has estimated the clinic costs at $5,500 ($110 per child for 50 children) and will need to limit the clinic to only those children whose families can raise this money, unless we get your help. The $110 per child includes:

· Housing the students at a site closer to the pool for 5 days

· Feeding the students and staff during the clinic

· Transit logistics, operations (e.g., need buses to get between sites)

· Cost of one excursion (e.g., visit National Museum)

· Compensation for school staff who will need to stay with the students through the week

In addition, we will be renting a pool at our hotel at $5 per student per day. Total pool rental cost is $1,250 for 5 days.

Donated funds up to the original goal amount of $6,750 will not be used to cover swim instructor team expenses (airfare, hotel, food, etc). Once we reach the goal, any funds over the goal amount may be used to help offset these expenses.

Todd and Natalie Aiken established the Not-For-Profit “Swim Liberia”* after running a clinic in August 2023 to teach 24 Liberian girls to swim. That clinic was created in memory of Gracious Miller, a young Liberian student from the Beautiful Beginnings School who drowned. Liberia is ranked as the 7th poorest country in the world and Africa shows the highest rate of drowning of any continent. See YouTube video of our August 2023 Swim Liberia clinic.

https://youtu.be/-8vTVaaAl4c?feature=shared

All donations are gratefully accepted and appreciated. Help us make a difference in the lives of these children. Thank you for your support!

*“Swim Liberia” is an approved Not-For-Profit in California, EIN #99-2930087. We do not have approval yet for our 501(c)(3) status so donations may not be tax deductible to you the donor. There is a 2.95% fee to GoFundMe. Please opt out of 15% “tip” on the GoFundme site.