This is the fourth year members of the AWSOM volunteering group haveopened classes of this kind in Tien Giang, with the help of province’sUnion of Friendship Organisations and relevant agencies.
The classes, running from January 4-9, are also part of a programmeon preventing and reducing drowning on Mekong River in 2015.
Bev Chrismas, founder of the AWSOM Group, said the learners aretaught how to swim properly and react if falling into water.
The right way to save a drowning person is one of topics discussed inthe classes along with skills for children to survive in a region withmany water bodies and rivers.
The volunteersalso held workshops for parents and My Tho city’s Association of theElderly on why it is necessary to have swimming and rescue skills.
Drowning is one of the leading child killers in Vietnam, with over3,300 deaths in 2012, equivalent to about nine cases every day. Thefigure is 10 times higher than the average figure of regional developingcountries. Half of the victims were bathing in ponds, lakes, rivers orthe sea without adult supervision.-VNA