Safety equipment donated by the United States of America and over 200 swimmers came together to foster a life-saving project last Sunday at the Kinross Swimming Club Wellawatte that was graced by former Olympian Julian Bolling under the patronage of State Minister for Urban Development, Coast Conservation and Waste Disposal Dr. Nalaka Godahewa who pledged the government’s fullest support for life-saving endeavours.
The project was initiated by the My Friend Foundation and Fouzul Hameed the Managing Director of Hameedia and the Life Saving Association of Sri Lanka with the support of the Kinross and Rainbow swimming clubs.
It was intended to create an awareness on the need for saving hundreds of lives which are lost annually due to negligence and the lack of education.
“We know that several lives are lost by drowning and we are trying to do something to stop it.
“I called up Julian Bolling to do something and we teamed up with Asanga Nanayakkara the president of the Life Saving Association of Sri Lanka and we made this a reality,” said Hameed.
Minister Godahewa said he was shocked to learn that what he called “thousands of lives lost annually due to drowning” and promised to further sustain the project by way of government involvement.
“As the Minister of this subject I am happy to see this awareness program take place. After I came here I realized that thousands of people die of drowning in the country annually. “As a government we have to do much to stop this tragedy of death. It is our responsibility to create safe beaches as well as inland waterways for everyone locals and foreign tourists,” said Minister Godahewa.