From unimaginable loss came determination to create change.
On the 14th of February 2020, a tragic swimming pool accident claimed the life of 3 year old Darcey Sunshine, just two months before her 4th birthday. Darcey was a happy, adventurous little girl and a keen, confident swimmer. Her loss was a devastating reminder that drowning can happen quickly, quietly, and in circumstances no family ever expects.
In the days and months that followed, the community who knew and loved Darcey rallied around her family. Inspired by the way she had lived her short life, they made a promise to “Be More Darcey” – to live bravely, love fiercely and spread a little sunshine wherever they could.
From that love, The Darcey Sunshine Foundation was born.
Turning tragedy into prevention
Darcey’s story is deeply personal, but sadly it is not unique.
Drowning continues to claim hundreds of thousands of lives around the world, with children and young people among those most at risk. Yet many of these deaths are preventable through education, supervision, safer environments and access to swimming and survival skills.
We believe that learning to swim and knowing how to stay safe around water should be a basic life skill, not a privilege.
Too often, a child’s access to these skills is determined by where they live, their family’s income, or the opportunities available within their community.
We want to change that.
One small programme. A growing movement.
The Foundation was established in 2020, and in early 2021 our first Sunshine Kids entered the water through a pilot survival swimming programme with Jo Jo Swimming Academy in Somerset West, South Africa.
What began with one swim school and one small group of children has grown beyond anything we could have imagined.
Today, we work with communities, schools, swim schools and partner organisations to give children and young people opportunities to develop the knowledge and practical skills they need to be safer in and around water.
Our work has grown beyond learning to swim, encompassing survival swimming, water safety education, open-water safety, rescue skills, CPR, community education and pathways into aquatic training and qualifications.
Because being able to engage safely with water doesn’t just reduce drowning risk.
It opens doors.
To confidence. To friendship. To better physical and mental wellbeing. To sport and adventure. And, for some young people, to qualifications, volunteering and future employment.
Spreading the Sunshine
At the heart of everything we do remains a very simple ambition:
To remove the barriers that prevent people from accessing lifesaving water-safety education and skills.
Every child who learns to float.
Every young person who learns how to respond safely in an emergency.
Every parent who better understands how to protect their child.
Every community given greater access to water-safety education.
Each one takes us another step towards preventing another family experiencing the devastating loss that started our journey.
Darcey’s life may have been short, but the sunshine she left behind continues to travel further than we ever imagined.
And we’re only just getting started.
