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The project’s goal is the rehabilitation and education of youth through sports and the sea.
These boys, coming from a low socioeconomic status, had experienced many failures in their lives, escaped from every possible framework, some have fallen to crime & violence due to the neighborhoods which they grew up in, and they also have to deal with the release of aggression.
This is where “Olam Hesed” association and “Water World ” who established the joint project “Margishim Bamayim “, come into the picture. The project aims to help boys to learn to swim in the initial stage, and beyond that to learn how to deal with the difficult challenge of jumping from a yacht and swimming to shore.
A few words about the sea – on one side of the sea is a very strong, energetic, with lots of positive forces. On the other – it can be cruel, dangerous and full of surprises. Swimming a mile in the sea requires physical and mental strength, persistence, a unique swimming style that allows you to breathe correctly, to rest while swimming, surf and connect to the sea waves – the only way you can succeed in this challenge.
Over a period of six months, boys come once a week to “Water World” in Glilot and combine a creative program which on the one hand combines a lot of games and stimuli, and on the other – style and discipline. This program encourages the boys not only to swim because they have to, but really aspire to reach the same goals as developing the body, building the long and healthy body which swimming provides.
While learning – they are also taught to float and rest while swimming, to persist over long distances and succeed in the task, which could later help them cope with difficulties in life with the feeling of ease that swimming provides rather than by force. Precisely those who try to struggle with the sea, to swim fast and “hit” the water are those who will have difficulty succeeding. Surfing, the feeling of ease and the wide variety of physical-mental elements – will assist them in coping with the difficult task of swimming in the sea.
At the end of the swim which starts with sailing the distance of a mile off-shore, jumping into the water, swimming and reaching the shore, the boys will receive a medal, certificate and gifts (shirts, hats and binoculars). Most important is the achievement of their goal after training for six months. These boys will remember the experience for life and this will allow them to experience the potential for success in every one of them.
It is our aspiration is to reach boys / girls all over the country and turn sports into a way of life for them, which will help them not only now but throughout their lives in dealing with various challenges they encounter..
We hope to promote many more projects and succeed in teaching swimming to a wide range of populations all over the country.