One child drowns every 45 seconds in Asia. For Vietnam, the estimated daily death rate sits anywhere between 10 and 32 children a day, making drowning one of the leading causes of death for children under the age of 10; for the under fives, almost 90 percent of drownings take place within 100 metres of their homes.
"I went to a spring with my friends but I did not know how to swim. An accident happened when I stepped suddenly into deep water. I tried to escape by struggling with my effort. However, it did not work in that way. What I did at that time was I remembered what I learned from the swimming training which was run by Swim Vietnam; I kept calm and I floated, and thanks to that, I saved my own life".
-- Duc, aged 12, who took part in a Swim Vietnam beach and water awareness course
How could you not want to sponsor this little chap!
Reading statistics like these led rather ambitious Scot Jo Stewart to trade her Singapore city job for the opportunity to help set up the charity Swim Vietnam in the central Vietnam coastal town of Hoi An. Armed with enthusiasm, the phone number of a contact from the Hoi An Tourism Department and plans of a three- to six-month stint to set the programme up (all you need is teachers, kids and a borrowed pool or two right?)...
That was in 2008. Five years, five Swim Vietnam swim schools in three districts and three pools later, Swim Vietnam have successfully trained more than 120 adults to become swim instructors and more than 5,500 children to swim.
Swim Vietnam's training pool in Hoi An.
With Vietnams geography of river networks and long coastline its no surprise that the drowning toll is so high. Add to that a low lying rural landscape susceptible to massive flash floods, and the need for charities like Swim Vietnam, which work with the government on drowning prevention, becomes very apparent.
Who says swim school can't be fun!
Swim Vietnam's mission statement is to reduce the incidence of drowning in Vietnam by providing high quality swim coaching to Vietnamese children. To teach them basic water safety techniques that could help save their lives and to promote general water safety issues in Vietnam. To give local people the required skills to teach swimming and water safety." Their long term goal is to help the government provide access to swimming lessons for all primary school children.
To achieve this they teamed up with AUSTSWIM, Australias national organisation of swim teachers, to train local instructors to an international level. The Hoi An education department helped raise awareness of the project in local schools and volunteers from around the globe trickled in to help.
The future Olympic team!
Jo Stewart is still with the charity, helping to push forward, raise funds and increase the outreach of Swim Vietnam. For kids who live in areas too far from their provincial centres (like Duc) they have trained instructors who go out to run lifesaving classes. The charitys goals for 2014 are to find funding for and open two new pools in flood-prone Quang Nam province along with a pool in another part of Vietnam where drowning rates are high.
Travelfish has donated $100 to Swim Vietnam; this will put five children through the Swim Vietnam programme, teaching them swimming and lifesaving techniques that could save their own lives or the lives of others.
Swim Vietnam is a UK-registered charity. If youd like to get involved in the project have a look at their list of volunteer opportunties or to donate via Paypal.
Swim Vietnam
Hoi An, Quang Nam Province, Vietnam.
T: (84) 01223451674.
www.swimvietnam.com
* Photos courtesy Swim Vietnam.