NSRI trainers Herby Meth and Enrico Menezies, and Captain Pieter Swart of GBOBA BF with Lawhill Maritime Centre students at Station 26 (Kommetjie).
For the past few years Sea Rescue has been involved in the practical training of students from Lawhill Maritime Centre. Michaela Nagel shares more about the programme.
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HE HALLWAYS AND classrooms at Lawhill Maritime Centre (LMC) are filled with aspiring ship’s captains and engineers and maritime innovators. Lawhill, based at Simon’s Town School in Cape Town, provides focused maritime education and skills to students aged 15 to 18 (Grades 10 to 12). The aim of the programme is to prepare students for tertiary education as well as careers in the maritime industry. The centre is not dependent on government funding and some students are supported with bursaries from the SATS General Botha Old Boys Association Bursary Fund (GBOBA BF). JOINING HANDS TO TRAIN AND MENTOR YOUNG ADULTS For the past two years, the NSRI has been working together with the bursary fund students, hosting them at rescue bases and offering a practical training programme that is sponsored by the South African
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International Maritime Institute (SAIMI). In addition, NSRI and GBOBA have used their collective knowledge and material to encourage the mentoring of the youth of South Africa, and especially those interested in maritime careers. Chairman of GBOBA and NSRI honorary life governor Captain Keith Burchell explains: ‘This is of strategic significance as it enables us to meet our goal of providing an extramural mentoring and educational and training programme, which supports that of our bursary students’ studies at the Lawhill Maritime Centre, and in turn is in line with preparing them for tertiary education and satisfies the requirements of SAIMI’s Sea Cadet programme.’ Every year, 10 Lawhill students are given the opportunity to attend a camp hosted by Sea Rescue to complete a course based on our online Bravo Bravo training. In 2019, 10 LMC and Sea Cadet students attended the annual NSRI
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FUTURE FIT
