VietNamNet Bridge – Joanne Stewart quit a high-profile corporate job in Singapore to volunteer to set up Swim Vietnam, five years later it is still the only training school for swimming teachers nationwide.

Stewart, 41 from Scotland, heard from a friend who ran triathlon organization TriBob and when he came back to Singapore talking about the horrendous amount of kids drowning in Vietnam he asked Stewart if she wanted a challenge. She said yes.

“I was only supposed to be in Vietnam for three months. We did it for six months the first year and it was supposed to finish then. I really liked what I was doing and I had done all the hard work at this time and got the swimming pool and government contacts, now all we needed was the money to keep it going. I didn’t want to stop,” she says.

“When I first arrived in Hoi An, we had nothing. I had to contact the Hoi An Tourism Department and then met with the town administration which thankfully approved my proposal to set up the club and introduced me to the education department. I had a few contacts that funded us to keep us going the first two years and now we have ten people sponsoring us and hopefully Swim Vietnam will last forever.”

The number one cause of death for children over the age of one in Vietnam is drowning. International aid agencies, UNICEF and The Alliance for Safe Children (TASC), call it the “silent epidemic”.

Before this year Swim Vietnam had taught 5000 kids to swim for free but this year they hope to match that 5000 total. The registered charity, which is based in Hoi An, Quang Nam Province has also trained 150 swimming instructors since 2008.

“I never knew there was such a huge problem with child drowning in Vietnam. What happens is a lot of kids die due to multiple deaths, one kid is in trouble, one goes in to save them, another goes in after them and they all drown. They all want to go in the water on a hot day but can’t swim, so this is where the problems occur. A lot of deaths happen during the flood seasons and the swimming environment and the rifts,” adds Stewart.

“Directly by training 5000 children we have saved 17 lives, indirectly it could be in the thousands or even more. These types of deaths can be prevented if the children know how to swim and survive in the water.”

Swim Vietnam holds eight classes every day for children between 6 and 14 years old. Stewart insists that all that is needed to run a swimming program is just need three things - children, teachers and somewhere to teach them. She also believes that more people, especially parents, need to be more aware about the problem of drowning.

“The authorities should work with the schools and media so that people realize how important this is and what Swim Vietnam is doing to help solve this problem. I think the Vietnamese government should work with organizations like ours, so that all children have the opportunity to learn to swim,” she adds.

For more information contact Joanne Stewart, Swim Vietnam Director at swimvietnam@yahoo.com or visit www.swimvietnam.com. Donations can be made directly through the website via Paypal. Swim Vietnam is a registered UK charity (SC042133).

Donating just US$20 puts one child through the Swim Vietnam program, teaching them swimming and lifesaving techniques. A regular monthly payment of US$20 sponsors a whole class; US$1,000 provides a teacher training course for 30 swim teachers and US$8,000 builds an above ground swimming pool in a rural area.

Source: SGT