SwimSafe Preventing child drowning in Asia through teaching survival swimming skills

Students warming up at Son Tra beach before hitting the water

The SwimSafe program for 2012 has commenced early at Son Tra Beach, one of two open water training venues used by the SwimSafe program in Danang.

Teaching commenced on May 2^nd, with 80 students in attendance, with the first class commencing at 5:15am. The large number of students participating has required the cooperation of accredited SwimSafe teachers from both the beach lifeguard service and from local primary schools in the area. This coordination has resulted in a ratio of 4 students to 1 teacher being maintained at all times to ensure the safety of the participants.

Both open water teaching locations, Son Tra Beach and Thanh Khe beach on the Danang Bay, recruit students from nearby schools that do not have portable pools. Due to the need to transport students to the beach, in the four year history of the SwimSafe program there has never been an early start to instruction at a beach venue. However, public support, in Son Tra, as well as the work from the Son Tra District Education Officer has generated support for an early class starting before the summer holidays commence.

Son Tra Beach early morning SwimSafe classes

The SwimSafe team offers its congratulations to Son Tra District Education officer, Mr Tien for generating the support to commence early instruction and to the Son Tra Lifeguard Service for their early support of the program at the beach.

Thanh Khe District Beach will commence instruction along with the remaining SwimSafe venues on May 21^st.

The Senior Trainers received Certificates of Recognition for their contribution to this year’s training

The SwimSafe program in Danang has long enjoyed the support, expertise and enthusiasm of its senior trainers. These 7 senior trainers were identified as natural leaders from the first year of the program and each of them is in charge of a specific program location and the instructors that teach at that location.

Their exceptional commitment and contribution to the program since 2009 has been recognised with certificates this week. The senior trainers have produced 20 hours of training for the whole SwimSafe program already in 2012. They have each put between 10 and 15 additional hours of work in to preparing for these training workshops.

TASC Staff Ms. Hoa & Ms. Loan join SwimSafe Senior Trainer Mr. Nhon

Feedback forms circulated at the training workshops held last week, reported very positive comments as to the content and nature of the training presentations and their relevance to this year’s upcoming season.

The excellent work of the senior trainers, the broader team of 110 instructors and the program staff all point to a successful 2012 season for SwimSafe Danang. The Danang Department of Education, the local operational partner, will officially launch the program in May with venue principals and district education officers involved.

SwimSafe Instructors

In the lead up to the official launch of the 2012 SwimSafe program, three 4 hour training workshops have been completed over two days across Danang city. The training workshops were held at Be Van Dan, Nui Thanh and An Phuoc schools across the two days.

The workshops, conducted by SwimSafe, The Alliance for Safe Children and Royal Life Saving Society – Australia staff, taught a total of 90 returning and new instructors. With the inclusion of the 20 head trainers, the total instructor workforce for the 2012 SwimSafe season is 110 instructors.

Sixteen instructors who are new to the program this year will receive additional mentoring and support from the program’s 20 head trainers.

Deb Quilliam giving warm up instructions to TASC staff Hoa and Loan as Senior Trainer/ Lifeguard Mr. H. Cuong listens

After the commencement of each workshop, feedback forms were circulated to get advice from the instructors on how their training can be improved. Although the training was largely run by SwimSafe Danang’s head trainers, Deb Quilliam, a highly experienced swim teacher from Australia, also volunteered her time to provide expert advice during workshops.

All participants are looking forward to a successful 2012 SwimSafe program.

Danyel Walker, Media and Communications Officer, Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB) – 12 month Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) assignment.

“I chose to volunteer at CIPRB in Bangladesh because I saw it as a great opportunity to use my skills and experience in communications to benefit other people and communities, while also challenging myself in a different environment. Drowning is the leading cause of death in children in Bangladesh, and my role was to create awareness of the issue in the region as well as build the capacity of my colleagues in their professional abilities.

I had an amazing time in Bangladesh, and value the memorable experiences I had and beautiful people I met. I’m now working at the Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing, while also volunteering with a number of local organisations.”

To learn more about the AYAD program, please visit the AYAD website.

If you would like to learn more about the SwimSafe program in Danang, there is a short documentary on YouTube. The video shows the portable pool and beach venues in action as well as interviews with instructors and parents of students.

You can also view the video by clicking on this link: SwimSafe – The Danang Story

The SwimSafe season for 2012 has begun early in Danang, with 5 venues commencing after school classes. The schools are:

• Be Van Dan Primary School
• Phu Tien Primary School
• Nui Thanh Primary School
• Phu Dong Primary School
• Rehabilitation Hospital Pool (whose use is kindly donated by hospital staff)

These five venues will conduct two 45 minute lessons after school each day. These lessons will result in 240 students completing the SwimSafe course prior to the official commencement of the program in early May. Each of the five venues has extremely dedicated and experienced staff, with almost all of the five venues having participated in the program since it commenced in 2009.

Train the trainer refresher courses have also been conducted to refresh the head trainers in teaching skills prior to the formal commencement of the program. These 30 highly motivated and experienced head trainers will lead the Vietnamese language training for the other 70+ instructors employed by the program.

The refresher training focused on new warm up activities for the students, improved stroke progression and on survival skills testing. CPR training will also be refreshed prior to the formal commencement of the program.

On April 14 and 15, the senior SwimSafe trainers and program support staff will conduct 3 additional workshops aimed at the remaining instructors. These additional workshops will be held at 3 of the protable pool venues across three districts around Danang.

The remote village of Raiganj, Bangladesh, is an unlikely place to launch a significant intervention program. But in all respects, it is the right place. For standing proudly within Raiganj is the Model Drowning Prevention Centre, officially launched on 16 March 2012 as a working example of the latest in child drowning prevention research and practice.

Child drowning is a significant issue across Asia. Well over 200,000 children will drown every year, placing drowning as a leading cause of death for children aged 1–17. The centre is seen by many as the great promise for reducing that number and will stand as a guide to government and NGOs working towards that goal.

The centre is the culmination of several years’ research and intervention programs conducted by the Centre for Injury Prevention Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB), The Alliance for Safe Children (TASC) and Royal Life Saving Society – Australia. The partnership also established the International Drowning Research Centre – Bangladesh (IDRCB) specifically to research drowning prevention measures for low and middle income countries.

Central to the Model Drowning Prevention Centre are the results of a four-year pilot program that trialled drowning prevention interventions in Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Thailand. The pilot program revealed two significant factors: a simple crèche where children aged 1–4 could be supervised during busy times, and teaching basic swimming and water safety techniques to children aged five and above. The results of the program are due for release shortly and will have a significant impact on drowning prevention in the region.

The purpose-built Model Drowning Prevention Centre is set up as a functioning crèche, and includes training rooms where teachers, parents and others can be taught CPR, first aid, and drowning prevention theory. Outside is a pond and portable swimming pool and is where you get a glimpse of what Bangladeshi children face.

Bangladesh suffers greatly at the hands of child drowning. It is believed as many as 50 children a day will drown, and usually within metres of their homes. Large ponds, like the one at Raiganj, are present throughout Bangladesh. They are used for irrigation, holding fish and general water usage. But the pond at the Model Drowning Prevention Centre has one addition: a bamboo swimming enclosure.

Here, children are taught to swim via the SwimSafe program and partners including UNICEF have now taught over 150,000 children to swim just enough to save their lives.

Justin Scarr is the Chief Operating Officer for Royal Life Saving Society – Australia and has facilitated much of the drowning prevention strategies for the region including the establishment of the Model Drowning Prevention Centre. “It is estimated that 50,000 village creches will be needed to effectively reach most of the children at risk in Bangladesh. A vast amount of funds will be required to accomplish this and the Model Drowning Prevention Centre provides a window into what can be accomplished at village level,” he said.

The Global Drowning Fund is the operational name of Royal Life Saving Society – Australia’s Global Drowning Overseas Aid Relief Fund and seeks to prevent drowning in developing countries through advocacy, research & partnerships.

The Swing to Swim Fundraiser is over for another year. The March 17^th event, raised over $8,000 for Swim Safe and other local learn to swim charities in the Da Nang and central Vietnam region.

The charity golf event, held at Montgomery Links golf course saw 110 Vietnamese and foreign national golfers participate in the tournament which had been advertised across Vietnam and internationally. The charity dinner event had close to 160 people in attendance including Swim Safe program staff and local government officials from Quang Nam and Da Nang city provinces.

The money raised will provide much needed funds for continuing the Swim Safe program in Da Nang. With an extra venue commencing this year, taking the number of venues in 2012 to 14, the funds will assist in training staff, keeping pools clean and providing student with water safety resources and their certificates for participating in the program.

Further funds are desperately needed to support SwimSafe in Vietnam, Thailand and Bangladesh. A one-off donation of just $20 Australian dollars can teach one child essential swimming and water safety skills. If you would like to donate, please visit The Global Drowning Fund.

The Global Drowning Overseas Aid Relief Fund has recently launched. The Global Drowning Overseas Aid Relief Fund has been established in response to the high burden of drowning experienced throughout many Asian countries, with the knowledge that similar scenarios are likely in many low and middle income countries throughout the world.

Through current and developing programs, the Global Drowning Fund, aims to provide training, education, and research, and increase local skills and capacity for the prevention of what has become a regional epidemic. The work now being done will form the basis of drowning prevention globally.

The SwimSafe survival swimming program can significantly reduce child drowning. These programs provide the most effective and cost-effective means of reducing the extraordinarily high number of children who drown. These programs need to be scaled up urgently and implemented throughout many developing countries.

Your donation will help establish and maintain these programs in rural parts of countries including Bangladesh and Vietnam; will support the training and employment of crèche staff and community swimming instructors, and will thereby provide an additional benefit of giving employment opportunities to people in desperately poor communities.

To donate much needed funds to the SwimSafe programs in Bangladesh, Thailand and Vietnam, please visit the Global Drowning Fund Donations Page.

The upcoming Swing to Swim Fundraiser in Danang, has been profiled on Tuoitre news, an online English publication of the Tuoi Tre newspaper. You can read the article here.