Ep 50 Swim and surf your fear away _ Inne Kusumawati with Rumana Kabir

I invite you to listen to the 50th and final episode of My MARS Mantra podcast, where my youngest teacher, Inne Kusumawati from Indonesia, helped me overcome my fear of water and taught me how to swim. After nearly 20 years of trying, I finally succeeded at the age of 36, and I now swim regularly.

Inne is a marine biologist, water polo player, surfer, and swim teacher. She lives on Awera Island in West Sumatra with her family and now runs a surf school with her husband. Inne highlighted the importance of having male family members — support women in living their dreams and in creating a new culture of brave Muslim women.

Indonesia is a highly disaster‑prone country, facing thousands of catastrophic events each year. Inne lives on a tsunami‑prone island and has therefore taught her family and neighbours how to escape during a tsunami. In many countries, such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Indonesia, women account for higher disaster casualties from events like typhoons and tsunamis, often because they do not know how to swim.

I conclude the My MARS Mantra podcast by thanking Inne, a future changemaker and my youngest teacher, for helping me break free from my fear of water.

Host and creator: Rumana Kabir

Co-producer: Zahid Shumon

Promotion and graphics: Ahasan Faisal

Music ASEIS

#Indonesia

#Tsunami

#Disasters

#Early Warning Systems

#Sumatra

#Awera Island

#Swim

#Surf

#Bangldesh

#Disaster preparedness