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Surf's Up for Humanitarian Aid

21 June 2010 at 11:41 am
Lina Caneva

Australia's SurfAid International celebrates ten years of humanitarian work with a series of celebratory events.

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Lina Caneva | 21 June 2010 at 11:41 am

SurfAid International, in conjunction with Corona and Goldman Sachs JBWere, will be bringing together surfers and supporters from the business communities of Australia to celebrate SurfAid’s achievement of 10 years of humanitarian work this July.

Hosted by SurfAid founder Dr Dave Jenkins, and joined by surfing legends including Simon Anderson and Tom Carroll, the organisation's Surfing Suits events will be held in Perth and Sydney.

The events are aimed at generating awareness of SurfAid’s program achievements and initiatives and provide an opportunity for supporters to contribute to SurfAid’s ongoing community development work.

Founded in 2000, SurfAid is a Not for Profit, humanitarian organisation whose mission is to improve the health, wellbeing and self-reliance of people living in isolated communities connected through surfing.

SurfAid works hand-in-hand with the communities of the Mentawai and Nias islands, off Indonesia’s Sumatran coast, where more than 70 per cent of each population lives below the poverty line.

SurfAid’s research shows that nearly one in 10 Mentawai children do not make it to the age of five. This is 15 times the death rate of developed countries where, on average, there are six deaths for every 1,000 live births.

The scope of SurfAid’s work has increased from malaria prevention to encompass community health programs, including water and sanitation projects, and disaster preparedness and relief.

In 2007, SurfAid was awarded the World Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (WANGO) Humanitarian Award, after being chosen from more than 49,000 not-for-profits worldwide.

Dr Dave Jenkins says SurfAid has always been about creating lasting change, not patch-ups which don’t work for long.

He says that by holding the Surfing Suits events they hope to solidify our support base to make an even greater impact by bringing together the people from Australia’s business communities who hold a common interest in surfing and giving back.

For more Surfing Suits information go to: www.surfaidinternational.org