Bravery in the deep: Western Cape social workers dive with sharks for Social Work Month

Shark encounters are often reserved for the boldest ocean adventurers, but for a group of social workers, the exhilarating encounter demonstrated their bravery.

Social worker Elry Stuurman described the exhilarating experience. "The adrenaline rush was amazing. Afterwards, I felt calm and peaceful. People like the youth who joined us today are the ones who keep me motivated and keep the fire burning.”

It was Stuurman's first boat trip too. 

To conclude Social Work Month and show how brave social workers can be, Western Cape MEC for Social Development, Jaco Londt, took a group of daring social workers shark cage diving on Friday.

Marine Dynamics, an ecotourism and marine company, took Londt, social workers of different levels, and young people in the foster system out on the water on 28 March 2025 to learn about the marine environment and conservation and to get up close and personal with sharks.

Londt said he wanted to celebrate and honour social workers as well as those whose lives they have positively impacted.

Social work supervisor Zenobia van Brakel said: “This was an incredible and inspiring experience. It was time for us to unwind, and now I’m ready to face the world!

“As social workers, we face daily challenges, but I see many successes and changes in children’s lives. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it keeps me going because I know we can make a positive difference in children’s lives so they can love life.”

Malcolm Valentine, a social worker for 13 years, said shark cage diving was the most fantastic experience ever.

“Swimming with the sharks was the ultimate experience; having them so close to me was great.”

Stuurman, who has been a social worker for 10 years, said the experience was great but also shared that he initially wanted to be a teacher, and that he had worked in the restaurant industry, when he realised that ultimately he wanted to be a social worker.

“Coming from a disadvantaged background pushed me to do better, and to assist the community in a way that I felt I wasn’t assisted as a child.”

Stuurman shared that some of the challenges come down to resources, and he said that part of the reason is that communities are changing faster than the resources can keep up.

“A lack of human resources, like people in the field, but we try our best, and when you have passion for social work, that makes it much better for the next person.”

He also highlighted that one of the best parts of being a social worker is the people.

Valentine said he wanted to be a social worker to give back to the community and help the vulnerable.

“Thirteen years later, I’m still loving serving the vulnerable, being a voice for the voiceless, and helping the helpless amidst the challenges we have as social workers.”

Valentine shared that some of the challenges, especially when it comes to child protection, is needing community involvement.

“We need our safety parents, we need our communities to put up their hand to say, I wanna open up my house to be a foster parent. In terms of gender-based violence (GBV), the department has a nice programme where we train GBV ambassadors, as we know that GBV is also a huge issue in our communities.

“We work in dangerous environments and communities need to speak up about that as well. They know the perpetrators, they know the people who are culpable, and communities need to protect the social workers as well. We need the community to stand up and get involved,” Valentine said.

Stuurman echoed his sentiments: “For social workers it is challenging that sometimes we get the communities who feel like things aren’t going to change, and we need to change that mindset. We have to start one person at a time, and not just tell people we’re going to change things, but show them that we’re going to change things.”

Valentine added some of the positives of his job, he shared that it means a lot for him to get a thank you, and seeing a smile on a child’s face, and also seeing a child getting their birth certificate.

“At the end of the day, that for me takes it home - seeing a person smiling. That gratitude, the sense of thank you on their face.”

Social development MEC, Jaco Londt, said: “It is social work month, and this is for our social workers, to celebrate the amazing work that they are doing. I have met many social work professionals who are not only passionate about their work, but also courageous in the face of immense challenges such as high caseloads, secondary trauma from the cases they deal with daily, and abuse when out in communities while doing their work to safeguard vulnerable individuals like children and the elderly.

“This is kind of a symbolism of the bravery that social workers show day-in and day-out looking after the vulnerable. We have 43 000 children in the foster system, and they overcome tremendous obstacles, and this is a celebration of them and giving them exposure,” Londt said.

“Marine Dynamics gave them the opportunity, they took our hands, and taught us a lot about conservation, and what they are doing in the marine ecology field. Thank you to Marine Dynamics for seeing the importance of honouring these incredible professionals and thank you to the social workers and the young people who joined us.”

theolin.tembo@inl.co.za