Arshay Cooper visits dozens of schools, programs, community organizations, and events each year to bring his message that being around and on the water and the sport of rowing can change lives in the same way his own life was changed, as told in his book A Most Beautiful Thing and the ensuing documentary.

(Cooper will be visiting schools in the Boston area on Friday, and you can visit with Cooper at the Concept2 tent at the Head Of The Charles on Saturday at 11am.)

In the midst of this constant activity on behalf of the A Most Beautiful Thing Inclusion Fund (AMBTIF), he heard from the Lawhill Maritime School in South Africa, and said he would visit - but the effort was slow in getting traction.

"They had read the book for school, at a boarding school of kids of color who live in townships," Cooper recounts. "They live at school, which is a safe place for them. The head of the school reached out to me to say that he believes like I do that water changes lives. He said they were doing some rowing but wanted to take it to another level, and that they had read the book and they wanted to use it to help change lives.

"So I said 'Yeah, I'll help,' and for a year we talked about it. But then they went to a race and kind of got slaughtered, and I said 'OK, I'm going.' I got together with Kevin Harris, and we went over there.

"When we got there, there was a team of 20 kids - who, it's funny, are also in the choir, so they can sing really well - and they had two ergs, Model Cs, with no monitors. The whole team was using just those two ergs.

"They did not have much - one room, two rowing machines, a couple boats, some busted up oars - and I called Judy (Geer at C2) and said I need ergs. She said she was sending six new ergs now and would send more, and was sending oars, and we showed up with those as a gift.

"They were singing songs of praises, it was so exciting. Every day, I was talking to kids, listening to music, telling them about the music that inspired me. We got on the water, rowed on the erg together, went to events together, went to other schools together. They were so open about their story, it was fantastic. "

Cooper held a movie night (supported by the AMBT filmmaker 50 Eggs), and they watched the film together.

"A funny thing happened," he said. "They knew all about hip hop, and basketball, and all said 'I want to go to America!' Then on the movie night, they saw the film and how it was for me in Chicago, and said 'Ahhh, I think I'll take my chances here!'"

Cooper shared a video about the trip just last week; view it here:

One student was chosen to attend the Arshay Cooper Leadership Camp at Craftsbury; next year there will be two, one boy and one girl.

"Everyone was crying, because these will be the first kids in the history of their school that came to America," Cooper said.

Cooper also visited the Bahamas, where he found similar enthusiasm, and similar potential.

"At the end, after we had worked with kids, and schools, and watched the movie together, and met with local officials and leadership, with everyone we could - when we were leaving, the kids said 'I want to be the kid who goes to an American school. Like, why not us?' Why not the Bahamas and South Africa, where there are close to 100% of kids of color in the programs?"

The Lawhill program will become one of the A Most Beautiful Thing Inclusion Fund's supported cities, which include several US cities already with more in the works, and potentially the Bahamas crew in the future.

"The video will show you what we did in South Africa, but it is really the same thing that we do when we go to a city here in the US," Cooper notes.

Through it all, Cooper is constantly reminded of his own journey as a young man growing up in Chicago.

"When you hear the testimonials from the kids in South Africa and elsewhere, they talk about the water the same way me and my guys (in his Manley crew) speak about it," he said. "This South Africa trip was truly beautiful; it absolutely changed my life. "

See a gallery from the visit here.

Over time, AMBTIF has worked to improve access to rowing for young people of color, but all along Cooper has spoken passionately and uncompromisingly about helping the same kids become competitive at the top levels of the sport, right on to the Olympics.

Cooper reminds people that increasing access to sport - though not only to sport - has always resulted in, to quote the Olympic motto, faster, higher, stronger.

"History has taught us that when everyone is included, it gets faster, better, and more competitive," he said.

"I want folks to know that, while we are putting kids on the water, now we are seeing kids get recruited, and go to competitive camps, and talk about the Olympics."

row2k will have a followup feature next week on the workings and progress of those efforts.