Skandia Geelong Week - Smiles All Round

9:05 AM Sat 24 Jan 2009 GMT
It's a long way from the mountains of Burma to the blue waters of Corio Bay and parents of the Karen community of Geelong were not quite sure how their children would take to dinghy sailing at Eastern Beach today but they needn't have worried.

Smiles on all seventeen faces of the Karen children reflected the joy they found in their first sailing experience at a special 'Skandia Come Try Sailing' session today. Part of Skandia Geelong Week, 'Come Try Sailing' is run in conjunction with Yachting Victoria and for the past six years has been a popular foreshore attraction on Australia Day Weekend.

Last year fourteen year old Naygay Toeaye stood on the Eastern Beach shore watching children learning to sail. She thought that it might be a fun thing to do and asked Diversitat, a local community support network, for assistance this year. Family support worker Nikki Welsh happily facilitated the treat.

'This will be the first sea experience for most of these children,' she said 'Many of them can't swim, a few have tried kayaking but none have had anything at all to do with the ocean'.

The children's parents have recently arrived in Australia after spending up to twenty two years in Thailand refugee camps which is where all of these primary school aged children were born.

'We love it that we can provide this opportunity for the Karen children to have fun and embrace the Australian lifestyle we simply take for granted.'

Throughout their unforgettable 30 minute session, some children sat wide-eyed and quiet but others were whooping with glee as they play-raced their friends.

Back on land all were enthusiastic about their time on the water, with many begging their parents to let them go sailing again, with some of the parents even hitting the water themselves and that's exactly what the Skandia Come Try Sailing program is all about.

by Traci Ayris

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