Worldwide, lifesaving is a volunteer community of trained volunteers, coming together to help prevent drowning deaths, and save lives in the community. We believe that anyone can be a lifesaver, no matter your age, gender, culture or swimming ability. At Royal Life Saving Bahrain, we have a number of different volunteer opportunities and roles, giving you the opportunity to learn vital life skills, and become an active volunteer member of our lifesaving community.
Volunteering your time is fantastic way to give back to the community, and gives you an opportunity to learn new skills, meet new friends and be part of a unique community. We believe that empowering our community with the skills, knowledge and confidence to develop into competent and confident life savers will help us save lives and build a resilient and ready community across Bahrain. Volunteers may work alongside lifeguards at beaches, assist with the delivery of educational programs for children, or help us protect the environment for future generations by taking part in beach clean ups and much more. Research has shown that volunteering your time has a number of physical benefits, as well as maintaining mental health. Volunteer training has been structured to allow a clear progression pathway, allowing you the opportunity to further your skills and knowledge, creating more opportunities for you to become involved.
Below are some of the current roles available to volunteers. Our volunteers are provided with training for each role, along with a uniform, PPE and rescue equipment as required.
Beach Lifesavers work alongside Lifeguards at events, providing additional supervision of swimmers, first aid treatment, educating the community and performing rescues.
This role is suitable for strong and confident swimmers, and those that enjoy being outdoors at the beach. Beach Lifesavers are given extensive training to perform their duties, and must be physically fit to meet the demands of the role.
Open Water Lifesavers work alongside Lifeguards to provide supervision at open water swimming events such as Iron Man. They utilize paddleboards, canoes and rescue boards to provide assistance and perform rescues at needed. Trained Beach Lifesavers can also be Open Water Lifesavers.
This role is suitable for competent swimmers, and those that enjoy being on the water. Open Water Lifesavers are given extensive training to perform their duties, and must be reasonably fit to meet the demands of the role.
Community first aiders are trained to provide first aid assistance at public events. This may include concerts, sporting events and races.
This role is suitable for anyone that is interested in providing first aid assistance. The role is land based, and so does not require any swimming ability. First Aiders are trained in the use of first aid equipment, including defibrillators and emergency oxygen.
Community volunteers support RLSB staff in a number of ways, and is a great way to become involved in a number of aspects of our work. They may help to deliver water safety and other education programs in the community, in schools and at the beach. They may also attend events and help with the organisation and coordination of activities. Regular beach clean ups are a great way to help us keep our beaches clean and safe for future generations to enjoy.
This role is suitable for anyone, including children that want to become involved.