MOSSEL BAY NEWS - There is good news for Dias Beach swimmers and organisations and people who have been extremely concerned about the lack of permanent lifeguards at the beach.

Most drownings in the Mossel Bay area take place in the surf at Dias Beach, where there can be strong rip currents.

Now there are full-time lifeguards at the beach, thanks to The Surfer Kids non-profit organisation.

And to make things really modern, the guards are being paid in Bitcoin, which they spend on groceries at spaza shops which have been brought on board by the project to accept Bitcoin as payment. The lifeguards also shop at Pick n Pay, which announced at the beginning of the year it would be accepting Bitcoin payments at all 1 500 shops nationwide.

New subsidiary
The Surfer Kids founder and owner Hermann Vivier says he has started a new subsidiary of The Surfer Kids called Bitcoin Ekasi, inspired by a project called Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador, a country in central America.

Viver says using Bitcoin enables sourcing of funding easily and an easier process for donors to the project. "It costs nothing to send Bitcoin," he says.

The lifeguards made their first rescue on Saturday, 11 February. The victim was resuscitated successfully.

Currently, as per the Bitcoin Ekasi project, there are two lifeguards on duty at Dias Beach seven days a week from 09:00 to 18:00.

Members of the public have been heartbroken over the drownings at Dias Beach. Most of the victims were children who had walked to the beach and had been swimming on their own, without any supervision.

If you would like to support Vivier's Bitcoin Ekasi project, contact him via the website, https://bitcoinekasi.com.

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