By CASEY NEILL
DANDENONG’S Jan Williams has a passion for water safety that’s saving lives in Vietnam.
More than 13,000 children drown in Vietnam every year and most residents can’t swim.
Water Safety Vietnam aims to reduce the drowning death rate through a ’train the trainer’ approach and promoting the chance for all children to learn swimming, survival and water safety skills.
The retired Rosewood Downs Primary School teacher of more than 35 years has presented the AUSTSWIM course since 1992.
She was named Victoria’s AUSTSWIM Presenter of the Year in 2010 and was nominated for the national award the following year.
“I have a passion for water safety,” she said.
“Three years ago I was co-opted to Water Safety Vietnam.”
Six weeks after receiving the call-up, she was in the nation’s south, talking to universities.
“We were invited to run a course for physical education teachers,” she said.
“They could go back into all areas of southern Vietnam and can train children, their families … ”
The group then received a request from a resort.
“They were petrified that someone was going to drown in one of their pools, which are 1.8 metres deep and have no fences, and people could walk in from the beach,” Ms Williams said.
“We trained 45 staff how to not get in the water to rescue someone – practical things that for some reason they’d never been shown.”
They’ve since trained more than 150 swimming teachers and 200 kids and staff at several resorts.
Their work involves lectures and practical sessions in pools.
“Most of what we do in the water is without a translator. It’s just hands-on, lots of gestures,” Ms Williams said.
“My Vietnamese gets better every trip I go over there.”
She recently returned from a 10-week stint in Vietnam, which included time at St Joseph’s Charity School, a 90-minute bus ride north of Ho Chi Minh City.
“If you can imagine the tiniest Suzuki you can and put a two metre square tray in the back, bench seats with 14 kids plus four teachers and a driver … ” she said.
“I was standing next to this thing saying ’when’s the bus coming?’. I called it a cattle truck.”
But she’s getting used to going with the flow, and will return for her fourth teaching stint in October.
“Water and swimming is part of the Australian culture. Over there, it’s not,” she said.
“To watch these ladies jump in deep water for the first time, they were like children.”
Ms Williams said some students weren’t cut out to be swimming teachers, but still walked away with pool rescue basics.
“They said ’I can save a life from what you’ve been able to give us’,” she said.
“It’s a jolly good thing that we’re doing and I’ll keep doing it as long as I can.”
But Water Safety Vietnam needs support to continue.
“We have no grants from anybody. The money that we raise is from dinner dances, RSLs, straight donations and that’s about it,” she said.
Visit www.watersafetyvietnam.com to donate or volunteer.
