• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

S.Africa’s first black free dive instructor turns tide on apartheid history

September 9, 2021 by David Barret Leave a Comment

September 9, 2021

By Wendell Roelf

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – Five youths from Cape Town’s Langa township squeeze into wetsuits for a snorkelling lesson with South Africa’s first Black diving coach — turning the tide on decades of apartheid history in which water sports were reserved for wealthy whites.

Zandile Ndlovu’s Black Mermaid Foundation aims to introduce the ocean to the country’s black youth, millions of whom live in impoverished shanty townships, where beach trips are a luxury and swimming skills in short supply.

Sitting around Ndlovu, 33, South Africa’s first Black — and Black female — free dive instructor, the children learn how to bite down onto the snorkel mouthpiece when breathing face down in the water, among other skills.

Established in 2020, the Foundation currently pays for the lessons but is looking for funders to ensure its longevity.

“The water space has not always been diverse, and I wanted to create a space where diverse representation in the ocean is possible,” she said. Ndlovu gave up her own consultancy business which she ran for five years after being employed in the corporate services sector.

“My joy is the moment when one of the kids says, ‘Oh look it’s a fish, oh look it’s a starfish,’ because it means that they have transcended the fear to actually look beneath the surface,” Ndlovu added. She was speaking after a lesson in which students entered shallow waters behind a flotation ring in the placid but icy Atlantic Ocean off Cape Town’s Long Beach.

Before South Africa’s first democratic vote in 1994 ended white-minority rule, a myriad of apartheid laws legalised racial segregation across all facets of life. Public spaces, such as bathrooms and beaches, were reserved for whites only.

“I’m happy and I enjoyed it,” said Somila Tise, a 12-year-old grade six student from Langa as she emerged shivering from the water.

Trying snorkelling while on holiday to Bali in 2016, Ndlovu fell in love with the ocean. She swifly got her scuba diving certificate the following year. Last year, she received an instructor’s certificate in ‘free diving’, with no equipment.

(Editing by Tim Cocks, William Maclean)

Source Link S.Africa’s first black free dive instructor turns tide on apartheid history

David Barret
David Barret

Related posts:

  1. Best WordPress hosting of 2021
  2. Inflation shock and ECB hawks keep euro near 1-month high
  3. Soccer-Ronaldo claims world record with late late show
  4. U.N. warns catastrophe looms in Ethiopia’s north, urges government to end de facto aid blockade

Filed Under: News

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  • A Two-Headed Fossil, 50/50 Spider, And World-First Butt Drag
  • Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Is Losing Buckets Of Water Every Second – And It’s Got Cyanide
  • “A Historic Shift”: Renewables Generated More Power Than Coal Globally For First Time
  • The World’s Oldest Known Snake In Captivity Became A Mom At 62 – No Dad Required
  • Biggest Ocean Current On Earth Is Set To Shift, Spelling Huge Changes For Ecosystems
  • Why Are The Continents All Bunched Up On One Side Of The Planet?
  • Why Can’t We Reach Absolute Zero?
  • “We Were Onto Something”: Highest Resolution Radio Arc Shows The Lowest Mass Dark Object Yet
  • How Headsets Made For Cyclists Are Giving Hearing And Hope To Kids With Glue Ear
  • It Was Thought Only One Mammal On Earth Had Iridescent Fur – Turns Out There’s More
  • Knitters, Artists, And Bakers Unite! Creative Hobbies Can Help Your Brain Stay Young
  • The Biggest Millisecond Pulsar Glitch Recorded Represents An Astronomical Mystery
  • There Are Five Different Types Of Bad Sleeper. Which One Are You?
  • In A World First, Autonomous Underwater Robot Sets Off On Mission To Circumnavigate The Globe
  • First-Ever Living Recipient Of A Pig-To-Human Liver Transplant Survived For 171 Days
  • 190-Million-Year-Old “Sword Dragon Of Dorset” Likely The World’s Most Complete Pliensbachian Reptile
  • Acting CDC Director Calls For Splitting Up MMR Shots – But There’s A Reason We Don’t Do That
  • New Species Of Tiny Poison Dart Frog With Stripy Back And Spotty Legs Loves Bamboo
  • Not A Canine, Nor A Feline: Four Incredibly Cute Fossa Pups Have Been Born At A Zoo
  • The Most “Pristine Star” In The Universe May Have Been Identified – Researchers Link It To Elusive “Population III” Stars
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version