Helping kids get acquainted with the water

Bayou Belle bike ride aids Houma shelter
July 9, 2014
Alcidia Bouvier
July 10, 2014
Bayou Belle bike ride aids Houma shelter
July 9, 2014
Alcidia Bouvier
July 10, 2014

Given that water is ubiquitous in south Louisiana, the fact that large swaths of the population don’t know how to swim is offensive to Peggy Bagala, a Cut Off woman acutely aware that unforeseen tragedy isn’t a distant concept.


Last year Bagala, who is director of the nonprofit, volunteer-based organization Les Reflections Du Bayou, began an effort to eradicate this water ignorance: She launched the “Gift for Life” program, a weeklong conglomeration of swim lessons and environmental and water-safety awareness activities. Through LRDB, this course was made available to nearly three dozen children at no cost.

Bagala reprises the program this month. Still offered for free, the only real change is that of the name to “Braxton’s Gift for Life,” an homage to Bagala’s great-grandson Braxton Bourda, the 15-year-old star swimmer who was gunned down earlier this summer in Larose.

“I am a little bit ashamed that us, in our area, don’t think it’s important to educate the children in that field,” Bagala said. “I don’t want to be a part of knowing what the numbers are and not doing anything about it.”


Drowning was the second-leading cause of unintentional injury death for children between the ages of 1 and 14, according to a 2012 report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2007, 43 percent of drowning deaths were in natural water, and an additional 9.2 percent were in boating accidents, according to the CDC.

“Braxton’s Gift for Life,” is held at the Cut Off Youth Center from July 28 through Aug. 1. It is open to anybody, inside and outside of Lafourche Parish, who is between the ages of 7 and 17 and capable of providing their transportation to the center.

Bagala founded the nonprofit LRDB in 1986. The community group has always focused on beautifying and protecting the environment, with its volunteers leading cleanup initiatives and giving speeches to locals about the importance of treating the environment with care and protecting the wetlands.


That mission has shifted, slightly, to focus on the dangers posed by living in an area surrounded by water. For Bagala, it is not only preparing to respond to external dangers – like hurricanes or a bridge collapse, for instance – but even from making mistakes while taking the boat out on the lake.

As much as her lessons focus on safeguards, they also stress competent and composed responses to emergency situations.

“Can you imagine,” Bagala posited, “a child that goes along on a bus that is so close to the water and knows she can’t survive if she goes in?”


Every morning, the instruction begins with 75 minutes in the water, allowing the pupils to become comfortable in the water and learn how to swim. After these sessions, a different guest presenter gives more in-depth information on various issues.

Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s deputies offer boating instruction, starting with life jackets and ending with an overturned boat, a problem the students are taught to solve. Rip-tide survival, CPR and hurricane preparedness are other topics. Windel Curole of the South Lafourche Levee District is scheduled to give a presentation on the levee system and other environmental issues, Bagala added.

Lunch is also provided.


Thirty-five children received the instruction last year, passing their Red Cross certification and gaining newfound comfort and ability when in the water, Bagala said.

“These were non-swimmers,” Bagala said. “They couldn’t stand water in their face.”

The organizer expects to have enough space for about three dozen participants this year. She said she hopes to add an afternoon session for adults only, saying that water awareness or lack thereof often trickles down in families.


Bagala, who estimates it will cost up to $5,000 to offer the program to 30-40 swimmers, is continuing to seek out sponsorships. To sign up as a sponsor or participant, call Bagala at 985-632-6382 or email lesreflectionsdubayou@yahoo.com.

Ultimately, the free lessons could change the lives of participants, Bagala said.

“Heaven knows who they’re going to be,” she said. “It gives so much self-esteem to a kid.”


A separate water-survival course is offered in Houma next month.

The Aqua Safety First Community Program is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Aug. 2 at Dumas Auditorium, 301 Tunnel Blvd.

Instructional topics will include the use of life jackets, flares, visual signals and fire fighting. The U.S. Coast Guard, Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries and Red Cross of New Orleans are among the participating agencies. Admission to this event is also free.


The Lafourche Parish based nonprofit Les Reflections Du Bayou offers free water-survival lessons – “Braxton’s Gift for Life” – during the summer in Larose.

COURTESY PHOTO