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Ei Eh Moo enjoys the underwater world at Freyberg Community Pool. Freyberg High School’s ESOL division has received funding to provide swimming lessons for refugees.
A refugee survival swim program hopes to equip them with the skills needed to make summer drownings a thing of the past.
Freyberg High School ESOL department head Leigh Scott said she was shocked by the drownings through the land during the summer months, but after four people died in the Manawatū River it got personal.
The Freyberg school community had connections with the families of Blae Ler Paw, 11, and Mu Mu, 27, who drowned? at Ahimate Beach on Dec. 30. They came to New Zealand from a refugee camp in Thailand after fleeing Myanmar.
Toetu Tonistino, 39, and Aukusitino Ioane, 25, drowned in the same swimming spot three days later, on January 2.
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The tragedies drove Scott to do everything in his power to prevent similar disasters.
“I was very clear that I wanted a program that not only teaches them what to do when they’re in the river, but also how to support people when you’re out of the river so we can stop people from just jumping in.” and drown. also, which in many of the cases happened in the summer.
“These refugee families are coming to live in New Zealand, so I felt like we needed something like this. I knew we had to do something to keep them safe, I just didn’t know where to start.”
It was a fateful meeting with Keegan Bremner, active recreation leader of Sport Manawat, who saw the project get off the ground.
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The program teaches swimmers basic survival techniques, such as learning to float on their backs.
Bremner had only been in his position for a few months when he learned about the drownings and felt that his work could make a difference.
“My role is in the development, well-being and enjoyment of young people, but I also work on overcoming barriers for people, in this case the refugee community.”
Bremner teamed up with Scott and Splashsave to create a 10-week curriculum that included basic swimming, survival and rescue lessons.
“I’ve seen the growth in them since their first day in the pool.
“The first day they all clung to the side rail, and now they are standing there with big smiles on their faces. It is well worth seeing for all involved.”
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Class members enjoy the Freyberg Community Pool.
Sport Manawatū has allocated NZ $11,435 on behalf of Sport for the lessons of the Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa Fund.
A total of $730,000 was also put into the greater Manawatū region for projects targeting inactive youth.
Four weeks after the swim program, there was now interest from other schools eager to join in and offer their young refugees the same skills.
“This has provided the resources to get the program underway in such a way that it can translate into expanding the program so that more members of the refugee community can benefit,” Bremner said.