Yesterday an 8 year old domestic servant's child died in a friend of a friend's pool. She couldn't swim. Only the domestic servant and her child were in the house. Who is responsible for this accident? The pool? The child? The mother? The owners of the house? The Government? Legislation? Who?
As far as we know, the domestic worker is blaming the home owner, but even if the pool had a fence, the child would have been tall enough to open the special hook on the gate.
We have a swimming pool. Our pool is surrounded by walls. When we have guests we ensure that someone is watching the pool at all times. Or we keep the house gates locked and we keep everyone inside. As it is our house gates are locked most of the time, so no one can get to our pool unless they climb over a wall.
We don't have a net. And even if we did, the child could get tangled in it and still drown, whilst the parent fumbles around trying to untangle the kid from the net. So much easier to just dive in and save the child. Unless you have a "hard net". Or a pool fence. Or a set of doors that lead to the pool that are locked.
The day a child almost died in our pool is a memory. We had about 30 friends for a braai one day, with adults and children all over the place. A small child had somehow experienced difficulties, and another child saved him! I wasn't watching because I was braaing. My wife wasn't watching. We assumed that the parents, who were standing next to the pool eating, were watching. But for the split seconds it takes for someone to drown, another child was there to save the child.
We need to all be careful around water. BLAME is the name of the game in our world. It is always someone else's fault, the government, our friends, our parents, someone of a particular religious persuasion, whoever. Time for us all to take responsibility for our actions!! And then Cape Town, South Africa, Africa, and the world will be a so much better place.
As far as we know, the domestic worker is blaming the home owner, but even if the pool had a fence, the child would have been tall enough to open the special hook on the gate.
We have a swimming pool. Our pool is surrounded by walls. When we have guests we ensure that someone is watching the pool at all times. Or we keep the house gates locked and we keep everyone inside. As it is our house gates are locked most of the time, so no one can get to our pool unless they climb over a wall.
We don't have a net. And even if we did, the child could get tangled in it and still drown, whilst the parent fumbles around trying to untangle the kid from the net. So much easier to just dive in and save the child. Unless you have a "hard net". Or a pool fence. Or a set of doors that lead to the pool that are locked.
The day a child almost died in our pool is a memory. We had about 30 friends for a braai one day, with adults and children all over the place. A small child had somehow experienced difficulties, and another child saved him! I wasn't watching because I was braaing. My wife wasn't watching. We assumed that the parents, who were standing next to the pool eating, were watching. But for the split seconds it takes for someone to drown, another child was there to save the child.
We need to all be careful around water. BLAME is the name of the game in our world. It is always someone else's fault, the government, our friends, our parents, someone of a particular religious persuasion, whoever. Time for us all to take responsibility for our actions!! And then Cape Town, South Africa, Africa, and the world will be a so much better place.
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