Dr Dave Jenkins, founder of SurfAid, with the Waverley College team
Waverley College was the only school team represented at the SurfAid Cup at Bondi Beach on Friday 27 May.
A tag team style event, the College team of four surfers – Liam Flanagan, James Bodkin, Harvey Papastamos and Lewis Pepper – were joined by Australian pro surfer Dayyan Neve.
SurfAid is a non-profit humanitarian organisation whose aim is to to improve the health, wellbeing and self-reliance of people living in isolated regions connected to us through surfing. All the funds raised go toward building stronger communities in the Mentawai and Nias Islands off the coast of Sumatra and the islands of Sumba and Sumbawa in Eastern Indonesia.
SurfAid works with communities and local government to prevent mother and child suffering and death. The latest Indonesian statistics show that every 3 hours a mother dies in childbirth, while every hour 20 babies die. Half of these babies are less than one month old. In remote areas these figures are worse. SurfAid provides a mix of practical support, education and health promotion that aims to change poor health behaviours into positive behaviours.
Just prior to the competition the College was lucky to have Dr Dave Jenkins address the school assembly to talk about the work SurfAid does in Indonesia:
While the team didn’t win this year, the students are keen to have another go. Here’s what they had to say about the experience:
Donations to SurfAid are still being accepted via the Waverley College Team’s page at: https://give.everydayhero.com/au/waverley-college.
