Andrea Carr, left, poses with some of the Sirena Project participants on Aug. 13: Rosita Mata, Grace Delos Santos, Hiroko Namate, and Alani Miones.
In this photo from February of this year, Andrea Carr teaches how to turn a lavalava into an improvised floatation device in the event of an emergency situation.
500 Sails phased out its Sirena Project program on Sunday, Aug. 13, but will continue to offer other programs to teach swimming and water safety.
According to the organization’s website, the Sirena Project is an all-female swim program that “teaches women and teenage girls to swim in a safe and supported environment.”
Classes were conducted on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Guma Sakman in Susupe across from Marianas High School.
The Sirena Project swim instructor is Andrea Carr, a life-long ocean enthusiast and an American Red Cross certified water safety instructor. She is also a traditional sailor under the 500 Sails Lalåyak program.
Carr said the benefit of an all-female swim course is that the participants feel more at ease.
“It’s fun to have just ladies swim,” Carr said “[We] talk about things that, of course, if a guy was there, we wouldn’t be able to talk about.”
She said the project involved teaching women and teen girls of all swimming levels how to be safe in and around the water. She taught proper swimming form, and also included navigational knowledge in her instruction. Carr also once taught students how to make improvised floatation devices out of lavalavas.
Although the program will no longer be offered on Sundays, it will resume if grant funds become available, she said.
Kuen-Hee Han, 500 Sails managing director, said in the meantime, island residents can still swim with the Dolphin Club of Saipan, which hosts morning swim sessions at the Guma Sakman every day from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m.
Carr said some of her former students were able to gain enough skills during the Sirena Project to swim with the more advanced swimmers with the Dolphin Club of Saipan.
Aside from the Dolphin Club of Saipan, there is also the Gamsun Project, which is a water safety course that helps community members pass lifeguard certification training. The Gamsun Project takes place on Sundays at 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.; Mondays at 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.; and Wednesdays from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
