The "Wondering Jews" speaker's series offered by Congregation Neveh Shalom is geared for the 55+ community that is curious about the world and expanding their knowledge about various issues and themes.

This month we will be joined by Dena Marshall of SwimTayka. The organization's mission is to provide free swim lessons and environmental education to underserved kids who live along oceans, rivers and lakes.

SwimTayka is a new non-profit organization founded by Dena Marshall, an environmental mediator and triathlete from Portland, and Bryan Avery, a tech guru and marathon open water swimmer from England.  

The mission of SwimTayka is to provide free swim lessons and environmental education to underserved kids who live along oceans, rivers and lakes. Tayka means Mother in Aymara, a major Andes region language. A mother gives her children life skills and teaches them how to care for our planet.  

In our own Jewish culture, the Talmud tells us that a parent must teach our children how to swim (kiddushin 29a); the Torah teaches us our obligation to save human life (Leviticus 18:5); our prayer the Aleinu reminds us to repair the world; and in Ecclesiastes 7:13 God admonished Adam and Eve “not to spoil and destroy our world; for if you do there will be no one else to repair it.”

This is the vision of SwimTayka.

Accidental drowning is the 3rd leading cause of unintentional injury death for children in the world. In the US, drowning is the 2d leading cause of unintentional injury death among children ages 1-14.  Children who live near bodies of water are at increased risk of drowning.

Our global waters are in crisis.  Nearly every major body of water on earth is contaminated, facing depletion, or being fought over by riparian neighbors.
 
SwimTayka was launched in July 2016 from poolside in Rio de Janeiro at the Summer Olympics, where Bryan was working as a volunteer.  The first swim project, the pilot project, will be held in Huanchaco, Peru in January 2017 in collaboration with our host organization Otra Cosa Network. 

Looking forward we plan to be in the Columbia River Gorge and Dominican Republic in 2017, and by 2020 in the United Kingdom, Israel, New Zealand, Mexico, and Bolivia.