WATOTO, a swimming school for kids in a small local village in Zanzibar, Tanzania. 

Roberto Ortu, Art Director and Film Maker, together with Fashion Designer Alice Firman, have started a new Charitable project together with The Rock for Community, a project by The Rock Restaurant in Zanzibar founded by Nigel Firman, Andrea Brunetti and Claudio Moras. 

Since 2005 The Rock for Community has helped build the school of Michamvi Pingwe and Kae, built football and netball fields to support the kids teams, held cinema nights for kids and adults, has brought (and continues to bring) fresh drinkable water to both villages and in 2016 started a swimming course that lasted a year long. 

Despite living by the sea and working as mostly fishermen, very few villagers know how to swim also because for women and young girls, in a muslim country, a burkini is a luxury. WATOTO starts from this necessity: give to the community all needed instruments to grow and live by the sea without risks. 

With the work of Roberto Ortu and Alice Firman and thanks to the sponsorship provided by Marcelo Burlon Foundation WATOTO swimming school started in June 2021 with four teachers of the Michamvi area of Zanzibar. Providing the kids not only with instructors but with proper gears was also one of the goals of the project. Thanks to the help of Elena Beraldo, founder of Awear Projects and Creative Director of the lifestyle brand Skin of Nature, WATOTO were able to provide each kid a full swimming set made made of goggles, waterproof bags and armrests and most importantly swim shorts for boys and pretty nice burkinis for girls, made out of a fabric donated by the Italian company Carvico, made entirely of ECONYL nylon, a yarn made of upcycled fishing nets. 

Filippo Antonioli, designer of the WATOTO logo, helped us with the production of branded t-shirts for the kids that will soon be on sale on therockforcommunity.com website to raise funds to help WATOTO keep swimming! 

Head of Project: Alice Firman & Roberto Ortu
Art Direction and Video Making: Roberto Ortu Production: Alice Firman
Main Sponsor: Marcelo Burlon Foundation
Apparel Designer: Elena Beraldo, Skin of Nature
Logo Design: Filippo Antonioli