
In 2018, with the aid of CIPRB and one of their trustees, Becky Horsbrugh, the Sreepur Village started to run swimming lessons in their pond in the village grounds. The lessons, since this date, take place every year during the months of June and July, and are now taught by a number of Sreepur staff who have since been trained to facilitate the programme each year.
Approximately sixty children, aged 6-12, take part each year. They will learn how to swim 25 metres freestyle, tread water or float for 30 seconds as well as perform a rescue from dry
land. As half the number of deaths from drowning occur in 1-5 year olds, having an older child trained in dry-land rescue is pivotal in striving to keep this devastating number down.
During our Swim Safe programme this year, we were able to ask one of our young swimmers, Adelle and her instructor, Vivash, what they thought of the swimming programme.
To coincide with Drowning Prevention Week on June 14, The Sreepur Village, Bangladesh would like to highlight the importance of its #SwimSafe Campaign this summer.
On Monday the #SwimSafe schemes commenced once again in The Sreepur Village. They are run by a team from the CIPRB (Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh) who, along with assistance from the British RNLI, have devised learn to swim schemes that are run in both rural and urban areas in Bangladesh
This week in the UK its #DrowningPreventionWeek and in Bangladesh right now its the rainy season which means hundreds of families, in flood-stricken areas, will lose their homes but most importantly their lives.