MISSION

Oshun Swim School seeks to create an Afro-Indigenous centered experience of water and swim-skill acquisition.  Through healing-centered and trauma-informed courses and workshops,  OSS strives to build a safer space for BIPOC womxn and non-binary people to explore our relationship with water, and grow into embodied, joyful swimmers. 
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This work centers frontline communities who have been historically excluded from swim environments, yet who bear the brunt of the climate crisis, and for whom swim skills are most essential.  

BIPOC: Black, Indigenous, and people of color. 

VISION 

Oshun is the Orisha (West African Yoruba deity) of rivers and lakes.  She represents pleasure, healing, and all of the things that make life worth living.  Despite personal, generational, and historic traumas, we envision Black womxn, womxn of color, queer folks, and other historically excluded communities, having an Oshun infused experience in water.  ​

ESTUARY
Just as all rivers eventually lead to the ocean
We have always brought ourselves you, our beloved water
To celebrate
To mourn
To heal
To become new
This is our birthright
 It is inevitable 

We with rivers flowing through our bodies
And down our cheeks
And from our breasts
We with creation ebbing and flowing at our core
Until it rushes forward, life carried in its wake
And we whose womanhood expands beyond breast, and womb, and birth
We who, like you beloved, are also moved by the silent embrace of the moon
We who baptize ourselves
Our ancestors
Our children
With our tears of pain
And tears of joy 
We daughters of Oshun and Yemaya
Beauty and joy embodied
And all of the things that make life worth living

We whose ancestors are fish and mermaids
Diving to your peaceful depths
Listening deeply
Riding your waves in sacred vessels
Lives intertwined with yours
Dancing with your rhythms, unafraid
We whose oceans, and rivers, and lakes
Have been dammed, and polluted, and buried 
And disrespected
And redirected
And scorned
We whose bodies, and skin, and hair
Deemed unfit, wrong, shameful
Until bathing suit and wet hair
Turn tar and feather

We who have had our beloved water 
Used against us as weapon
Fire hose snake strike us down
Poison pipes taint our blood
​We left pleading for help on rooftop islands
And without ancestors knowledge to keep us afloat
We who drown in our beloved
We who have been stolen across waters
And tossed shackled into waters
We whose mere presence in water
Has incited froth mouthed hysteria and 
Acid tossed from poolside
​No wonder we clutch our children close
And forbid them from entering 
​We who have had our beloved water torn from us
And kept from us until
​Our beloved turned stranger
No wonder our respect turned fear
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Yet we, like you beloved, have also
rained down
And overflowed
And purified and regenerated 
And reincarnated as
Wild river, gentle snow, salty tear,
Deep ocean 
Peaceful lake, city pool oasis
We, like you, have renewed ourselves
Over, and over, and over
Becoming clear
And gentle
And powerful
Over, and over, and over

Beloved water
We celebrate you as sacred
We celebrate you as realm of ancestors
We celebrate you as life
We celebrate our miraculous return to you
And to each other
Our path may meander 
It does take time to carve through mountains
Yet our beloved calls for us 
​We hear you
We are on our way
And our arrival is inevitable 

Just as all rivers eventually lead to the ocean
We have always brought ourselves to you, our beloved water
To celebrate
To mourn
To heal
To become new
This is our birthright
And we are claiming it

​Poem by Chandrika Francis

Founder and Facilitator, Chandrika Francis (she/her/they/them)

Chandrika is dedicated to supporting people of color to have a relationship to the earth grounded in remembrance, safety, connection, healing, and liberation!  Before founding OSS in 2018, Chandrika supported youth of color to reconnect with the earth for seven years in the form of environmental education, backpacking trips, camping trips, conservation work, classroom teaching, and youth development. She has a Masters in Education through the Islandwood Program at the University of Washington, with a focus in decolonizing environmental education.  She is a bi-coastal baby at heart, having spent her life between Oakland, Seattle, and the East Coast, and is excited to bring her work to the lands she loves!

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connect@oshunswimschool.com
​(504) 930-8190 

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May you be gentle and compassionate with yourself during this time.

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