Young people in the Western Bay of Plenty have been given the opportunity to learn scuba diving, thanks to the kindness of local strangers. The Graeme Dingle Foundation’s regional manager, Dan Allen-Gordon, revealed that five young people from Project K and four from the Big Buddy programme have learned to scuba dive. This was made possible through fundraising by a Tauranga diving instruction business.
The young people recently began their PADI open water dive course. “They would never have thought about becoming divers,” said Allen-Gordon. “Now they can travel the world to dive and perhaps even teach others.” He believes that Project K, which was started in 1995 by adventurer Sir Graeme Dingle and Jo-Anne Wilkinson, helps to build confidence and resilience in young people.
Dive Zone Tauranga, the diving instruction business, raised enough money through a ‘pay it forward’ campaign on their website to sponsor nine young people to take part in a free entry-level scuba diving course last month. Dive Zone owner Liz Plank said, “Our pool creates memories, so we asked our clients to donate so that those who wouldn’t normally get the chance could benefit from it.”
One of the students, Mia Donaldson, was thrilled to learn to dive. “It’s a great opportunity. It’s a little scary learning how to control everything in the water but it’s good,” she said. Plank acknowledged that the cost of the dive course can be prohibitive for many people. However, she was proud to offer these young people the opportunity to learn to dive and hopes to be able to do more in the future. To donate to get more Project K kids into the dive course, visit Dive Zone Tauranga’s website.
