Interview: Brittney from ‘The Life Aquatic’
Brittney is a Kinyarwanda-speaking, swimming-lesson-giving Canadian who I met through a friend awhile ago after hearing that she was starting up a business to share her mad swimming skills with others. She’s starting a new 5 week set of lessons on June 1st and weekend lessons as well. All of the details are on the Life Aquatic Facebook page. If you want to learn to swim or have kiddies, get in touch!
When and why did you first come to Rwanda?
I first came to Rwanda at the end of 2008 during a work placement from my university’s Cooperative Education Program. I was currently completing a degree in Neuroscience in Canada, and I came to Gitarama to help design science programs for a new school that was being built for an NGO. After arriving, they informed me that they had lost all the funding and were no longer building the school. After a few months of being soccer coach and school tutor for the children who lived on site, I wanted to do something more related to my degree. I came to Kigali a few months later, and began working as an assistant to the administrator at a school for disadvantaged children and adults. I helped out with the cooperatives, the general operations of the school, and when we lost our Primary Two teacher, began teaching math, science and English to primary two students. I stayed in Rwanda for about 9 months for the first time.
What brought you back to Rwanda?
During my first stay in Rwanda, I met some really great kids. After getting to know them, I began helping them with school fees. A few friends of mine and I sent two of the boys and two of the girls to boarding school. When back in Canada, I kept in daily to weekly contact with one of the boys whom I now refer to as my little brother (because of complications with adoption). I came back in 2010 for Christmas holiday, and New Year’s celebrations, to spend time with my little brother.
After finishing my degree, I came back to Rwanda in 2012 to run a life skills training program through an NGO that I had started. Once the program finished, I began looking for work to stay and be full time guardian of my little brother. But finding a job was much harder than I had anticipated (even with the ability to speak intermediate Kinyarwanda!), and that is when some very encouraging friends of mine helped me start a business here.
What was that like, starting a business here?
The application process is very straight forward, and much more reasonable than back home. Rwanda is really encouraging entrepreneurs, and there were very few roadblocks. I was assisted at RDB by very helpful and cheery staff, and my official business registration was handed to me no more than 24 hours later!
Can you tell us a bit about your business, Life Aquatic?
Life Aquatic aims to provide quality swim instruction through a unique style of water skills instruction! In combination with university level research on the biomechanics of swimming, my own personal teaching experience, and what I learned through my knowledgeable supervisors in Canada, I have begun a way of teaching swimming which is unique to Rwanda.
Can you give a bit of information on your background in swimming?
I have been swimming for as long as I can remember, and teaching swimming since I was 16. I finished all 12 of the Red Cross swimming lessons by the time I was 11, and then joined competitive swim clubs until I was old enough to start the life-saving and water safety instruction courses. Immediately upon completion of my courses I was hired as a swim instructor in Canada, and have been teaching swimming since 2005.
What makes your swim instruction so different?
I taught at a pool in Canada for over 6 years where the swimming program coordinators had designed a unique instruction program which focused on progressions through balance. The program was based on information gathered from numerous swimming conferences and the practical theories of Ernest Maglischo, a national championship winning swim coach for 38 years and holder of a PhD in exercise physiology. I found the program very effective in achieving balance and reducing drag in swimmers, ultimately facilitating stroke and increasing speed. In university, I took upper level kinesiology courses, through which I studied the biomechanics of stroke, forces acting on a swimmer, and the intricate movements which best propel a swimmer through the water.
I have combined my years of experience in various pools and environments, my studies, and all of my formal training to best assist swimmers through the progressions of swimming acquisition and stroke precision. I adapt my lessons to the individual swimmers, make lessons fun with games, and focus on comfort and movement in the water.
Life Aquatic offers distinct levels with measurable outcomes. Life Aquatic offers report cards which outline progressions, strengths and weaknesses, and help both parents and students monitor how they are doing.
When are classes held and who can join?
Anyone can join! Adults or children can come learn to swim. The youngest age I currently teach is 3 years, however baby-swim classes are something I will look into adding to the curriculum for the future. Younger children and lower level swimmers are put into class sizes of maximum four students, while older children and upper level swimmers are put into class sizes of maximum six students. Classes are mixed, however I have had some requests for female only classes. Female only classes can definitely be offered if there is enough demand.
Private and group lessons are offered anytime! Classes are taught at Nyarutarama Sports Center on Saturdays and Sundays between 10am and 1pm.
How do people sign up? How do they know what level to enroll in?
Visit the Life Aquatic Facebook page for information on programs, camps, lessons, and pricing: www.facebook.com/lifeaquatickigali. Once you have decided which type of lesson is best for you, sign up by contacting me directly at brittney.merryweather@gmail.com.
The best way to accurately enroll in the right level is through an assessment via a private lesson. However, through email, I can also guide a verbal assessment through questions. Often, students can get shuffled after the first lesson to better match students of the same level and comfort in the water.
What is on the horizon for Life Aquatic?
Well, my next step is to start a Water Polo league! I have some water polo balls being sent from Canada, and I would love to teach/play/coach water polo. If registration in lessons is high, I would also like to train more teachers and expand. Ideally, it would be awesome to one day have my own pool where I can also offer water aerobics, swim teams, competitions, and water related trainings including water safety and rescue.
Your picture and article should be titled:
“Amazing feat being performed by a young white woman , an early settler, in front of scared and shocked native in 1906″……oops or is it the year 2013!!
This is a picture that conveys an attitude that Africa ,and it people, should pay attention to particularly with the recent onset of young unemployed people from Europe and the Americas.
We should remind these young people that, they are guests in our countries and should not import their ignorance and insensitivity!!!
Swimming lessons can be better demonstrated !!!
This picture is not appropriate and instead conveys a high level ignorance and insensitivity.
Who are the intended audience !
I see a swimming instructor giving a demonstration to her students…
I fully agree with you. It seems like occidental people like to see us this way… And they just do the same in their own country. Black people are constantly stigmatized!!! It was a shame in 1906, but it way much worse in 2013..
Ms. Henderson if you don’t see If you do not see it in an insulting manner, we do! So why don’t you change this pics for something more joyful or “equal”?
Cheers
Hey Bosco,
Rather than immediately take down the photo… I’d much rather use it as an opportunity to find out what about it is offensive. I really don’t understand, and I’d like to.
Is it…
– That a white person is teaching black people something?
– That a white woman is teaching black men something?
– That a woman is teaching men something?
– That men are looking at a woman?
– That black men are looking at a white woman?
I don’t understand what is ‘unequal’ about this photo. People are being taught a skill by another person. Brittney is professional and highly trained to teach swimming and that’s what she’s doing in this photo. She’s not unemployed, she’s started a business and pays taxes to Rwanda.
This is what I’m seeing… I’d love for someone to explain to me what they see… clearly so that I can try to understand.
I am actually feeling quite offended by the thread here and feel that it is taking on quite a racist or xenophobic tone.
That is a photo of me, giving a demonstration of a back float to a class of 5 students. I happen to be a white female, they happen to be black males. Similar to Kirsty, I would also like to know exactly what the offensive nature of this photo is.
That is me, at work, everyday. I teach every race, every age, and both men and women. I have no discrimination towards my students. Why is there discrimination towards me, as the instructor?
This is my home, too. I live here, I pay taxes here, I have family here. I have moved to Rwanda and started a business to teach the life skill I have taught in Canada since I was 16 years old. My job has the potential to save lives. Drowning has no discrimination. I can only hope that you can look past the colours in this photo as well.
Bosco / Jean: Don’t know where your anger comes from. If your rights were violated previously by white people then attacking Brittney does not justify what they did.
When i look at the photo i see two things: 1: A group of black men paying attention to a white girl in a swim position most probably float stance. 2: The fact that she is wearing a t_shirt and shorts indicates to me that she purposely over dressed not to create disruptions. Brittney does not dictate how they should position themselves or even look at her and if you find their specific posture and gaze offensive then blame them not her.
If any of you has been to the pools here, you surely have seen that swimming lessons are seriously needed and if we are lucky to have such an experienced instructor based on her CV then we should be thanking our stars.
Brittney i have a 3 year old and a 12 year old how do i register them for your lessons?
Hi Hubert!
Anyone interested in registering for lessons can email me personally at:
brittney.merryweather@gmail.com
Thanks for your interest!
Brittney is a fantastic teacher. She puts safety first, gives examples and cues verbally, physically and through demonstration. I am an adult learner and she make me feel comfortable, not silly in a pool full of kids, and I learned some good techniques that have helped me to be a better swimmer.
Brittney – I swam 300 meters to a floating deck and back by myself in thailand thanks to my ‘superglue’!!
That is amazing Eric!! Allie told me all about it! I’m so so happy to hear that! Keep up the good work, and let’s do another lesson soon! 🙂 And thank you for the positive comments! Made my day 😀
Hey Jean and Bosco, you should have stopped learning English because it is not your native language. Brittney is teaching those guys how to swim and they are learning something because they don’t have the same thoughts as yours. Being black or white has nothing to do with sports,we all need to have fun and enjoy our life, your comments are not welcome in our country because those expats are here because they love our country, because they love Rwandans and because they want to stay here as Rwandans.
Thank you Brittney, you are doing a great job in our country, I wish I had a professional instructor like you. Krysty and the whole team, your job is amazing.
Don’t pay attention to those negative comments, I think those guys don’t understand what they are talking about.
Wow. When I read this blog post I did not at all expect the comments to get this tense. How bizarre.
All I really want to say is thank you for teaching people how to swim. I think knowing how to swim should be a requirement. Swimming is not only fun, but it can also be the difference between life and death for you or others. I was fortunate enough to have gone to a school where swimming was taught as early as kindergarten. No opting out unless you had a disability. So I take knowing how to swim for granted, I guess. It always baffles me that there are so many of my fellow Africans who don’t know how to swim. Crazy.
Keep up the great work, all the very best of luck to you, and don’t let the haters get you down.
Brittney,
It takes a courageous, dedicated, and hardworking woman to do what you did and still do- passing through all ups and down- definitely out of your comfort zone to creating your home in Rwanda, while sharing your skills and intelligence with the Rwandan people:) and how sweet of you being there for your young Rwandan brother. Keep doing what you do, and thank you for finding a home for yourself in Rwanda.
As a Rwandan girl, I feel blessed having people like you in this beautiful country.
Keep it up:)
Gabby I’m a rwandan born and raised in New York.. I aint understand watcha meant..
Anyway, yall took it wrongly.. It’s not a matter of color or sex! So Kirsty you wont find the answer in those questions..
Brittney you dont have to feel offended it’s not about you it’s about the pic itself.. As Jean said swimming lessons can be better demonstrated..
Hubert it’s not really anger and I’m personnaly not attacking Brittney. It’s just a shame that in 2013 people are still stigmatizing Africans. I can see thousands of such pics every single day in NYC. What I can see through this one is a bunch of scared and shocked black people amazed by a caucasian one. I think a more joyful pic would be more fair. This is those kind of little details that keep us at a lower level in most people’s mind. But you have to live outta Africa to realize it as white people coming to our countries are either really more open minded or forced to act like they were.
I feel sorry for the offended ones, as stated in my first post the only purpose was to suggest another pic not to diss anyone..
Peace
Perhaps the choice of picture was innocent but I definitely see where Bosco is coming from. A better demonstrative picture would have entailed one of the students posing/attempting a maneuver he/she has been taught… just a thought… Instead of getting defensive (author of post), you could have simply asked Bosco and Jean what they meant… By giving them a list 5 options to choose from (almost) implies that the reason for them being offended could only fall in 1 of those categories.
They’re all staring at her tits anyway.
I came across this picture while doing a Google image search for HP computer monitors in Kigali! Not sure how this came up… but hey. When I saw it, I thought it was picture of a bunch of guys wanting to swim but there was a woman taking up all the space and they were all just waiting for her to float on by! Hahaha!
To be honest, I’ve didn’t read through the whole article – I just skimmed it. I got the gist though – it’s about a swimming instructor named Brittney, right? The photo makes more sense now 🙂 I guess she’s teaching them how to float… or how to do starfish impressions? Being able to swim (or even the simple act of floating) is a skill that can save your life one day – and even someone else’s if you really know what you’re doing! Keep it up Brittney.
By the way, does anyone know what that old-school Rwandan swimming style is called – the one where your upper body stays above water? Not sure if it’s practiced (or taught) any more. Lemme do a quick Google search – if I find anything, I’ll post the info, and hopefully a photo as well, here. Watch this space 😉
I asked around and, in case anyone is interested, the swimming style I mentioned is called, “Magazi” or “Mpagaze” or “Ngarama”. I couldn’t find any pictures though… and one guy told me it is a fictional swimming style.
Hi There,
May I ask if above swimming lessons from Brittney are still on? I sent an email to her but couldn’t get feedback.
No unfortunately they’re not.