In a heartwarming twist to the traditional white Christmas, children who participate in the JBay Surf Alliance Academy’s Surf Therapy programme swapped snowflakes for beautiful waves and a sandy beach, at a very special Graduation and Christmas party last week.
JBay Surf Alliance Academy (JBSA) is an after-school safe space for youths at risk. They offer a Surf Therapy Programme which has international status. Children come from the schools in Pellsrus.
According to Debbie Cilliers, managing director of JBSA, they currently have 78 children attending their programme and this was their second successful year.
“This is also our second year-end function to celebrate the festive season and the coming holidays. This year was particularly special, as the kids who have been with us for two years graduated with a certificate of achievement and got some pretty cool gifts.
“At the academy we teach Mindfulness, Communication, Sharing, Caring for the Environment and the Ocean, and Plastic Pollution, and that there are plenty of ocean-based jobs to grow into as the youths develop and move into the tertiary education sector.
At the year-end party they celebrated all 78 children and they were able to hand out party packs filled with sweets and biscuits. They had lunch together and then handed out the graduation certificates.
“All our surf and boogey boards and wetsuits at the academy are donated to us, and so we were proud to gift the graduates with the very board they had used over the two years of being with us.
“The party ended with the kids going surfing at their local spot, Kitchen Windows, with the stoke continuing into the New Year,” said Cilliers.
ISSUED BY JBSA
