By Amy
Filed in Vietnam
November 29th, 2009 @ 11:51 pm
Mr Tu in action at Nui Thanh school
By Amy Peden, TASC, Danang Vietnam
The SwimSafe Danang program has already been a resounding success with over 5500 children taught the lifesaving skills of survival swimming and water safety since the program commenced in June, 2009. All 12 SwimSafe venues operating in Danang city have done an amazing job, but one venue of note is Nui Thanh school, based in Hai Chau district.
Nui Thanh school and staff, ably led by Mr Nguyen Duc Tu, SwimSafe instructor, has been one of the program’s highest performing venues with a total of 456 student s taught during the official 3 month summer period. The school then participated in the pilot after-school program training a further 80 students in these important skills. Read more
Grade 4 students from Mahaparp Krajadthong Uppatham School demonstrate their new survival swimming skills as launch attendees look on with keen interest.
By Tarina Rubin, TASC, Thailand.
Click here to view the press release from the Australian Embassy in Thailand.
The launch of SwimSafe Thailand on 24 November 2009 at Mahaparp Krajadthong Uppatham School in Samut Prakan was a great success. The event marked the commencement of survival swimming classes this month in both SwimSafe Thailand venues, Samut Prakan and rural Chiang Rai. Read more
Exchange Magazine Oct Dec 2009
Amy Peden has recently published an article on the SwimSafe Danang Project and her volunteer experience as part of the AYAD program in the AYAD magazine ‘Exchange’. The magazine focuses on development issues and how AYAD volunteers and their host organisations are working to respond to those issues and on partnerships between Australian Partner organisations (APOs) and AYAD/host organisations and how these partnerships are impacting on development in the Asia Pacific region. The article can be found by visiting the AYAD website (www.ayad.com.au) and following the links.
Rosanne Podmore and instructors practising survival sculling
By Amy Peden, TASC, Da Nang Vietnam
On Saturday, September 19th, SwimSafe Da Nang conducted a refresher course for our 19 head instructors, prior to the commencement of the after-school program.
The training was held at Ngo Gia Tu school, in the Son Tra district, one of the 10 portable pool venues throughout Da Nang city. Training was conducted by Ms Rosanne Podmore, an AUSTSWIM qualified teacher of 21 years, with 11 years experience with the Royal Life Saving Society Australia. Read more
Trainee instructors, Thai Life Saving and the SwimSafe Team celebrate the completion of swim instructor training in Samut Prakan.
By Tarina Rubin, TASC, Thailand.
After much anticipation at the Mahapapkrajardthong Ooppratham School in the Samut Prakan province of Bangkok, the city’s first SwimSafe pool is now in operation! It is the second SwimSafe Thailand venue, following the construction of another pool in the rural province of Chiang Rai in the country’s north in June 2009. Read more
By Amy
Filed in Vietnam
September 14th, 2009 @ 2:25 am
SwimSafe Da Nang graduating class from Ngo Gia Tu school, August 2009
By Amy Peden, TASC, Da Nang Vietnam
With the summer school holidays over, the results of the first three months of SwimSafe Da Nang are in. Across the 12 venues, a total of 4718 children participated in the program with plenty of fun had by all participants!
The SwimSafe program is a survival swimming and water safety program aimed at children between the ages of 6 and 12. Children are taught basic swimming, floating and rescue skills as well as water safety knowledge. For participants aged 10 and over SwimSafe also includes a component on CPR awareness and skills.
Read more
Australian High Commissioner Dr Justin Lee speaking at the opening of the Training of Trainers SwimSafe Programme
By Peter Varley, CIPRB, Bangladesh
DHAKA, Bangladesh, September 6, 2009 - An international drowning prevention partnership between The Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB) and the Royal life Saving Society Australia (RLSSA) was launched on September 6 at the Bangladesh Swimming Federation.
Named the Training of Trainers SwimSafe Programme, the four day event will see two Australians from RLSSA, Mr Jeff Moss and Mr Jason Phillips, up-skill 30 senior Bangladeshi swimming instructors in a variety of coaching methods for children, as well as survival swimming, rescue and resuscitation techniques. Read more
SwimSafe lesson at Be Van Dan School
View through TASC Facebook page
Round 1 of the SwimSafe Danang program kicked off at the beginning of the Vietnamese summer school holidays, with 12 venues running, and over 2,000 children aged between 6 and 12 were taught basic swimming, floating and rescue skills as well as water safety knowledge. For participants aged 10 and over SwimSafe also includes a component on CPR awareness and skills.
Here are some photos of the children being put through their paces….
Amy Peden and Nguyen Mai Huong (HSPH) conducting a survey on water safety knowledge and awareness
by Belinda Lawton, RLSSA
Amy Peden has spent most of the past five months on the road – literally. As the Survival Swimming / Water Safety Project Officer for The Alliance for Safe Children (TASC), gathering information from the local community in Da Nang, Vietnam has meant plenty of roadside meetings at small cafes across the provinces.
But while a dusty road might seem an uncomfortable setting for collecting background for TASC and the Hanoi School of Public Health’s Safe Da Nang project, it’s the part of the job Amy has come to value the most. The Safe Da Nang project aims to reduce injury, particularly drowning, in the region in coming years. Read more
Children being taught how to perform CPR, by a SwimSafe trainer at the official launch of the program.
by Amy Peden, TASC, Danang Vietnam.
SwimSafe Da Nang has officially begun after a launch on Sunday May 31st at Be Van Dan primary school in Thanh Khe district. SwimSafe, a survival swimming program for children in South East Asia, aims to teach 5000 children in the three months of summer. As drowning is the number one killer of children in Vietnam, post-infancy, the SwimSafe program is a vitally important public health intervention aimed at addressing the child drowning epidemic across Asia.
Read more
