Left:Dandenong teacher Jan Williams, couldn’t resistgetting into the water to teachswimming to localchildren during a trip to Vietnam in April, as part of Water SafetyVietnam.By Nicole Williams
TEN children in Vietnam drown every day and an organisation with local roots wants to do something about it.
Jan Williams, a Dandenong teacher and nominee for 2010 National AustSwim Presenter of the Year, visited Vietnam in April as a member of Water Safety Vietnam, an organisation established to help reduce the drowning toll.
She took long service leave from her teaching job at Rosewood Downs Primary School to go to Vietnam to observe water safety in the country and make recommendations to the group.
Ms Williams and adult education worker Pam O’Reilly left for Vietnam on 13 April to attend the World Conference on Drowning Prevention in Da Nang as well as travel the region making contacts and gathering information.
“Water is a big part of life in Vietnam so there is a myriad of danger,” Ms Williams said.
“Vietnamese people love the water but they just don’t know how to swim.”
The pair also visited the Swim Vietnam program in Hoi An and Ms Williams could not resist getting in the water herself to teach.
A big part of the Water Safety Vietnam program is the Train the Trainer approach which includes teaching local teachers how to swim and how to train other teachers to teach swimming.
Ms Williams and Ms O’Reilly talked to universities about teaching the AustSwim course to PE teachers and resorts about teaching basic rescue to resort staff like beach boys.
“We want to get into the uni’s and we want to get into resorts on the coast to train the resort staff in basic rescue,” Ms Williams said.
“Essentially we want sustainability when we walk away.”
The program has the ongoing support of the Dandenong Cranbourne RSL, which has provided the group with connections to the Vietnamese community in Australia.
“I want to say how highly the RSL supports this project, partly because of our very close association with the Vietnamese community,” Dandenong RSL aged care and community welfare officer John Filmer said.
To support Water Safety Vietnam, email Pam at watersafetyvietnam@hotmail.com.
