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More than 200 swimmers will gather this Saturday, June 29, in Tarifa for the first edition of the Traversía Swim en el Mar Tarifa, an open water swimming event that combines sport and solidarity, with funds going to a children's project by the Vicente Ferrer Foundation in Nepal.
The event is organized by the local company Swim en el Mar, an open water swimming school, and by Brazadas Solidarias. Brazadas Solidarias, linked to the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, is the largest organizer of solidarity crossings in Spain, with more than fifteen years of experience and a circuit composed of more than 20 events spread across Andalusia, Murcia, and Catalonia.
The interest of Brazadas Solidarias in Tarifa has been made possible thanks to the initiative of Swim en el Mar and the support of the Tarifa City Council and more than twenty local companies. The response from the swimmers to this initiative has also been exceptional. It already has more than 200 athletes registered from all over Andalusia, and the organization hopes to exceed 250.
The crossing offers two distances: 800 meters and 2500 meters, at Playa de los Lances or Playa Chica. The crossings by Brazadas Solidarias are characterized by highlighting the values of sport, such as camaraderie, self-improvement, and solidarity, rather than competition itself.
All the money raised during the Tarifa crossing is intended to support a project that allows Nepalese children in great vulnerability to go to school.
The Swim en el Mar swimming school was created 4 years ago in Tarifa and offers open water swimming lessons with an emphasis on safety, health, and enjoyment.
The Swim en el Mar team, in addition to giving classes in the Campo de Gibraltar region, travels around the world with their project of teaching aquatic skills. They have specialized in supporting processes to overcome the fear of the sea and also organize swimming routes in the Strait Natural Park. The school offers open water awareness workshops in schools to create an aquatic culture.
The FVF Solidarity Project in Nepal
The Vicente Ferrer Foundation, which has been working in India for over 40 years, has launched the first phase of its internationalization in Nepal, a country whose population has not yet recovered from the devastating 2015 earthquake.
In crisis contexts, children become the first and main victims. This is why the Foundation supports three target groups: children whose families work in traditional brick kilns, an industry with a high rate of child labor; children with cerebral palsy; and adults suffering from mental health problems, whose family burden falls on their children.
It is estimated that there are about 750 brick factories in Nepal (unofficial figures indicate more than 1,000, as many are illegal), an industry that has thrived thanks to construction and export to wealthy countries where environmental regulations are stricter. These jobs are often held by impoverished families, mainly from the lowest castes or Dalits. It is seasonal work, taking place from November to May, a period without monsoons.
According to data from the International Labour Organization (ILO), 16% of the workforce in brick factories consists of minors, representing between 20,000 and 30,000 children who should be in school but suffer from labor exploitation and health risks by carrying excessive loads and being exposed to toxic smoke clouds emanating from the kilns' chimneys.
The Vicente Ferrer Foundation supports seven schools in Nepal so that preschool-aged children (3 to 6 years old) belonging to families working in this sector receive nutrition, clothing, and care while their parents work as seasonal laborers. Without this support, the children would likely work alongside them.
This intervention by the Vicente Ferrer Foundation in Nepal also includes the rehabilitation and nutrition of disabled children in day centers, psychological support for their mothers, and raising awareness among families whose children take care of a parent suffering from mental illnesses to ensure they do not drop out of school.
Nepal has a high rate of mental illnesses but few resources to address them. Many of these conditions are triggered by the high incidence of earthquakes and other natural disasters, during which the poorest families lose everything. Additionally, Nepal experienced a brutal civil war from 1996 to 2006, the consequences of which have been devastating in rural areas. Many adults, who were children at the time, still suffer physical and psychological aftereffects from this period.
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