Carina’s 20km Swim For Hope Across Nelson Mandela Bay

28 February 2020

SWIM FOR HOPE BREAKS RECORD!

On Friday 28 February 2020, Capetonian marathon swimmer, musician and mother-of-three Carina Bruwer became the first woman to swim across Nelson Mandela Bay in Port Elizabeth, in support of Muzukidz, an organisation that offers underprivileged children the opportunity to learn the violin.  

She completed the gruelling crossing from Pollok Beach in Summerstrand (PE) to Bluewater Bay on the Coega side of the bay in a time of 05:15; the distance swum was approximately 19km. A group of children from the local Muzukidz project greeted saw her off with some music and support at Pollock Beach, where she embarked on her challenge at 07:50.

MUZUKIDZ is an NPO that offers free intensive violin tuition to township children, in an effort to change lives through music. After 5 years working exclusively in Cape Town, Muzukidz has now also opened a branch in Port Elizabeth.  Operating from Settlers Park Primary in Walmer, Muzukidz has one teacher in PE, who has taken 50 young children from townships in and around PE under her wing. Children are taught at no cost to the families and Muzukidz relies solely on external funding to cover costs for teachers, instruments and teaching material. The organisation hopes to be able to appoint a second teacher and reach 150 children by mid-2020.

Swim For Hope is a fundraising platform through which open water swimmers can dedicate a solo or group swim, or individual race participation, to a worthy South African cause.

Carina Bruwer founded Swim For Hope in 2014 as a fundraising platform through which open water swimmers can dedicate a solo or group swim to a worthy South African cause.  Since its inception, Swim For Hope has raised over R600,000 for different charities, in addition to media coverage to the value of more than R1 million.

The project’s current beneficiary is MUZUKIDZan organisation that offers underprivileged children the opportunity to learn the violin. 

After 5 years working exclusively in Cape Town, has now also opened a branch in Port Elizabeth.  Operating from Settlers Park Primary in Walmer, Muzukidz has one teacher in PE, who has taken 50 young children from townships in and around PE under her wing. Children are taught at no cost to the families and Muzukidz relies solely on external funding to cover costs for teachers, instruments and teaching material. The organisation hopes to be able to appoint a second teacher and reach 150 children by mid-2020.

“When I had kids, my priorities changed and although I kept up my fitness in the pool, extreme swimming naturally had to take a back seat.  I did however miss open water swimming and the ocean was calling my name loudly, but embarking on a big swim is so time consuming and takes up so much of one’s energy…  So I made a deal with myself: if I was going to swim again, I needed to do it in a way that was not just for my own enjoyment; I had to swim to make a difference – I had to SWIM FOR HOPE!”
Carina