SUPER GIRLS EMPOWERED BY OCEANS
I AM WATER
Women who help girls to grow into strong healthy women are Super Wonder Women. They create exponential power and good, rippling out through families, communities, nations, and the planet as a whole.
Champion Freediver Hanli Prinsloo, earned Super Wonder Woman status, when she founded I AM WATER Foundation, a global initiative that fosters ocean conservation through human experience and social change. The Foundation’s mission is to empower women and girls to realize their true potential connecting them to their local waters.
Prinsloo, who might also be considered as a Wonder Mermaid, is one of the top freedivers in the world. She can dive more than 200 feet deep into the ocean and resurface on a single breath, with no equipment to assist her.
While traveling around the world, competing in freediving competitions, Prinsloo noted that in many countries, underprivileged populations who lived near oceans did not have access, as tourists did, and were therefore disconnected to their own local natural resources.
Prinsloo believes that the more people are connected to our oceans -- the more they know about them, experience them, and enjoy them -- the more they will respect and take care of the waters and all that lives beneath.
I AM WATER works with freedivers and marine experts, to provide education, training, and memorable ocean experiences for underprivileged coastal communities. While this is important for everyone, it is especially important for women and girls.
Gender roles in underprivileged populations encourage boys to be daring and active, while girls are held back, taught to be fearful and careful. In many cases, I AM WATER offers girls their first experience in open water. It is powerful. It is transformative.
Growing up on a landlocked horse farm in South Africa, Prinsloo’s first love of deep water was limited to local rivers. Her deep ocean passions first developed when she attended university in Sweden where a freediver introduced her to deep water wonders of the fjords. Soon she was exploring waters around the world.
Freediving helps the girls in so many ways, and by teaching it, I AM WATER empowers girls by challenging some of their deepest fears and exposing them to possibilities beyond what they could ever have imagined. Check them out in this video.
The girls learn about the human body's remarkable adaptation to water. They learn about underwater life forms that they never knew existed. They develop a new sense of awe and inspiration. Out of the water, I AM WATER’s girls walk straighter, stand taller, and dream bigger.
When women and girls have confidence, faith and strength, they can use it to accomplish any goal or overcome a whole range of adversities.
I AM WATER has partnered with several not for profit organizations, such as Mission Blue, and brands, such as Athleta (The Power of She), to expand the mission, extending it to more women and girls in South Africa, Mozambique, and Bermuda to introduce them to their nearby oceans.
“Privilege for me is measured in a child’s access to water: from clean drinking water, to learning to swim and finally experiencing the world below the blue surface. For us at I AM WATER, it is not only about ocean conservation; it is about the development of a whole person. It is about the development of a person who understands their role on our blue planet and who experiences the great joy that our oceans have to share” - Hanli Prinsloo.
I AM WATER also helps to raise awareness about the importance of healthy oceans by sending experts to speak in classrooms and at conferences. As ocean advocates, they also participate in related global policy and legislation discussion.
Hanli extended her original vision even further with I AM WATER Ocean Travel, which connects divers to some of the wildest underwater spots on the planet. The Sea of Cortez, off the coast of Baja is one such place, where they dive and swim amongst hundreds of Mexican whale sharks, the oceans’ largest fish.
“I AM WATER it is not only about ocean conservation; it is about the development of a whole person who understands their role on our blue planet,” Prinsloo says.
As Prinsloo states, “Our blue planet may be divided by continents, but it is united by oceans.” Learn more and see how you can experience the wonder for yourself at I AM WATER Foundation and I AM WATER Ocean Travel. And check out these supercool SpiritGirl eco-friendly underwater leggings to get your own Wonder Woman Mermaid thing happening.
Read more about Super Girls all this week on BeautifulNow. And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.
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