NEWS

May 23, 2021

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When Help A Star was organized as a charitable organization, the goal was to incorporate swimming as the vehicle to better the lives of children particularly the disabled. This may lead to the question – why swimming? There is a truly clear and direct answer and that begins with our founders – Xiomara and Tariq and their introduction to swimming as children.

Growing up in a nation like Suriname teaches an important lesson early on – opportunities to reach your full potential are not easily acquired. When there is a chance that you can take advantage of scholarship or additional skill training you jump at the opportunity. The path to success is not always a straight line in the developing nations of the world.
 

For Xio and Tariq that first opportunity was presented to them by their mother, Lucia “Loes” Vroom. Loes had been a talented runner and loved athletics for an exceptionally long time. Unfortunately, she did not have the funding to secure a proper coach and training regimen. Thus, she realized that athletics was not going to be something that she was going to be able to pursue with any level of competitive success.
 

Loes discovered that she also loved swimming from a young age. Sometimes she and her sisters would just sneak into Parima, the only 50-meter pool in Suriname’s capital – Paramaribo. Swimming was not allowed by her mom, because she was very protective of her kids. At that time there was a lack of swim instructors in Suriname leading to many incidents of drowning among children. As she matured, Loes came to the realization that she too was given an opportunity - to use her love and skill in swimming to develop a swim school to teach and prepare children for swimming with the goal of reducing that terrible number of drownings in Suriname. 
 

As of Mother’s Day 2021, the academy started by Loes, La Luz Swim School, has been in existence for 30 years. Before the onslaught of CoVid -19, the academy had 80 students. Not only that, Xio, Tariq and another family member, Jacques “Jack” Getrouw, also began nurtured their swimming abilities here and eventually served as instructors.

The opportunity presented to the three young people led them far from the Parima pool to academic scholarships in the USA and Europe as well as careers teaching new generations of children how to swim. Xio, for her part, now has her sights set on earning a master’s degree and eventually working with disabled youth. 
 

The La Luz academy is not finished with the training of a new generation of swimmers. The school is inclusive, and everybody is welcome from age 2 to 100. Loes has taught many students with a disability. She never utilized formal advertisements but has distributed flyers and sent letters to schools at all levels; of course, word of mouth also brings new students.
 

If a disappointment exists, it is the lack of official funding from the government, its Olympic Committee or swimming federation. Loes has observed that many of her students are talented and have extraordinary competitive skill. While some can compete both nationally and in Caribbean competitions there are obstacles to reaching the FINA championships or the Olympics.  Some children do not have supportive parents or suffer from a lack of financial support. Most of the talented in Suriname come from poor families.
 

Other neighboring such as countries Trinidad and Jamaica have more efficient and successful athletic development programs because they realize these programs lead to success in international competition. The increased positive visibility for their respective nations provides a leverage to improve their nations overall and a source of national pride.
While Loes is very hopeful that things might change, and she will often provide tuition for some children who cannot afford the school she realizes that this is an unsustainable and temporary solution. At the same time, she understands the importance of her efforts to contribute to the world and make a difference.
 

She is clearly motivated to continue leading La luz for the coming years and hopes that eventually, her children will take over as the leader.

While the current pandemic has necessitated changes to school procedures, students still attended La Luz and for that Loes is incredibly happy. She believes that living with CoVid means we need to push ourselves even harder to stay fit and healthy. As she stated very clearly: “We are living in challenging times, but you need to push yourself no matter what obstacles you are dealing with. You need to move forward! Stay positive because it is part of life.”