United States House of Representatives formally acknowledges that water safety education should be included in primary and secondary schools. (H.RES.658)
May 15, 2012, marked the Inaugural International Water Safety Day prompting the United States House of Representative via H.RES.658 to formally acknowledge that water safety education should be included in primary and secondary schools. The day was celebrated with water safety tips and lessons by life guards, teachers and swimmers from around the world, including Olympic Great Anthony Ervin and the Michael Phelps Foundation, all striving to make a planet that’s 70 percent water, 100 percent water safe.
Wanda Butts dropped the phone and screamed when she heard the news that her son was dead.
Josh had drowned while rafting on a lake with friends. The 16-year-old didn’t know how to swim, and he wasn’t wearing a life jacket.
“I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t want to believe it: that just like that, my son had drowned and he was gone,” she said, recalling the 2006 tragedy.
Butts had worried about her son’s safety when it came to street violence or driving, and she said she had always warned him of those dangers. But water accidents never crossed her mind.
“It did not occur to me that my son would drown because he didn’t know water safety,” she said. “Josh was never taught the basic life skill of learning how to swim.”
Josh was not alone in the black community. According to USA Swimming, 70% of African-American children cannot swim, compared with nearly 60% for Hispanic children and 42% for white children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African-American children between the ages of 5 and 14 are three times more likely to drown than white children in the same age range.
As Butts tried to make sense of her son’s tragedy, she realized she had passed her own inexperience to her son. Her father had witnessed a drowning when he was young and instilled in her a fear of water.
“So as a child, I never went around water,” said Butts, 58. “I never went swimming. I didn’t know anything about water or life jackets and water safety.”
Because of this fear, Butts raised Josh without any exposure to water. But today, she is determined to prevent other mothers from doing the same. In 2007, she started the Josh Project, a nonprofit that provides low-cost swimming lessons for children in Toledo, Ohio.
“After losing my son, I wanted to do something to help other people, to help another mother not have to suffer the way I do every day from the loss of a child drowning,” she said.
To date, the Josh Project has helped more than 1,000 children learn how to swim.
“All children are at risk of drowning, but the majority of the children that the Josh Project serves are minority children, who we have found are more at risk,” Butts said.
Several cultural and historical factors can help explain why that is. One is the segregation of swimming pools during the 20th century, according to Jeff Wiltse, author of “Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America.” Relatively few swimming pools were built to serve the black community back then, so much of a generation was denied the opportunity to swim, Wiltse told the BBC.
Also, if parents can’t swim, their children are far less likely to learn how, according to a recent study conducted by the University of Memphis. The study, sponsored by USA Swimming, found that a fear of drowning and a fear of injury prevent many African-American parents from putting their children in swimming lessons. It also found that many avoid swimming for cosmetic reasons, such as the effect chlorinated water has on their hair.
For some families today, it’s still tough to find an accessible pool.
“The public pools near our home have been closed in the past, and other places were not affordable,” said Lisa Haynes, whose 14-year-old son, Joshua, is one of 60-plus students in the Josh Project this season.
The swimming lessons take place at a local high school over four Saturdays for a total cost of $10.
“I am less worried if (Joshua) is near water because he has the basics of how to swim,” Haynes said. “And we’re thankful for that.”
Butts is doing much more, however, than just providing swimming lessons.
“She ups the awareness, and that is half the battle,” said Shaun Anderson, a swimming coach who was so inspired by her story that he created a Josh Project swimming program at Norfolk State University in Virginia. “Once these communities learn how to swim, they will pass it down, which results in future generations that know how to swim.”
Butts said she has two goals for the future: One is to change the drowning statistics of minority children, and the other is to have an aquatic center where the children can swim daily instead of just once a week.
“The joy on the faces of those children — when they see that they can learn, once they get it — they are so happy with themselves,” she said. “And it’s like all of them are my children. It’s like I didn’t lose my son.”
Want to get involved? Check out the Josh Project website atwww.joshproject.org and see how to help.
Who could imagine today that before the Civil War, Blacks and Native Americans were universally regarded as the best swimmers in the world, while most Whites could not swim and drowned in appalling numbers? The history of Black swimming is one of the topics explored in detail at the International Aquatic History Symposium and Film [...]
From Stew Leonard III Children’s Charities: Water Safety Message Spread through Interactive, Fun Reading of “Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim” iBook and Game NORWALK, Conn., April 17, 2012 – Stew Leonard III Children’s Charities today announced the launch of its new Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim mobile app for iPad and iPhone. The app, [...]
From the International Swimming Hall of Fame: The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) has commissioned a work of art by award winning sculptor George Gadson, to recognize the generally unrecognized contributions that Africans and swimmers of African descent have played not only in swimming history, but in world history. The as-yet to be named [...]
From USRowing.org, by Beth Kohl: One hundred days out from the start of the 2012 Olympic Games, USRowing is proud to name Anita L. DeFrantz as the Honorary Chair of America Rows, the nationwide diversity and inclusion initiative created by USRowing to increase awareness of rowing and introducing the sport to a diverse group of [...]
From USASwimming.org, by Mike Gustafson: Elliot Ptasnik is a director at Imagine Swimming in New York City, and head age group coach of the Manhattan Makos swim team. A former swimmer at the University of Iowa, Elliot was recently nominated for 2011-2012 Metropolitan Age Group Coach of the Year. Yesterday, I talked with Elliot about last [...]
From the WashingtonPost.com, by Lynn Sherr: To call swimming a religious experience might sound like sacrilege. But for many of us, every time we slip into a bikini, or plunge into the ocean, or pound out our laps, we’re actually taking part in a spiritual rite. Swimming is an ancient activity, combining the mystical properties [...]
From KTAR.com, by Holiday Moore: This time last year, Arizona was on a record breaking pace with child drowning cases. It is why KTAR and Fulton Homes has launched the “Two Seconds Is Too Long” campaign earlier than usual this year. We ended 2011 with a total of 16 child fatalities. As macabre as it [...]
2000 Olympian and International Water Safety Day Spokesperson Anthony Ervin made a recent visit to Boston, MA. Ervin took time out of his day to talk to us about the importance of water safety and his upcoming meet schedule.
Diversity in Aquatics, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose goal is to decrease the rate of drowning victims worldwide by helping to create, promote and support programs in the US and abroad. It also serves as a forum for interaction, communication, and news to help promote diversity within the aquatic community and curve drowning disparities.
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