Lagos, Nigeria – About 20 children in shorts and vests meet in a pool on a suffocating afternoon in Nigeria Lagos Economic Center. A coach holds the hand of a child who is blind while demonstrating swimming movements and guides him through the pool, while others take note.
It was one of the sessions with students of the Pacelli school for the blind and partially seen, where Emeka Chuks Nnadi, the swimming coach, uses his swimming in 1 day, or SID, without profit to teach swim to disabled children.
In a country where hundreds drown every year, often due to boat mishaps But sometimes as a result of domestic accidents, the initiative has so far taught at least 400 disabled people how to swim. It has also helped its personal development.
“(It has helped me a lot, especially in class,” said Fikayo Adodo, 14, one of Nnadi’s apprentices who is blind. “Now I am very sure to talk to a crowd, with people. My brain is more acute, as very great.”
The World Health Organization considers drowning as one of the main causes of death through involuntary injuries worldwide, with at least 300,000 people who die from drowning every year. The most at risk are young children.
Many of the deaths occur in African countries such as Nigeria, with limited resources and training to avoid such deaths.
In Nigeria: a country of more than 200 million people, 35 million of which the government says they are disabled – The challenge is much worse for disabled people who have less access to limited opportunities and resources in addition to social stigma.
While the initiative is to raise awareness among children on drowning, it benefits the broadest society in different ways, Nnadi said, especially “if you want to have disabled people who contribute to the economy and not only depend on us as a society to take care of them.”
Nnadi recalled having established the non -profit organization after returning to Nigeria from Spain in 2022 and seeing how disabled people are treated compared to others. It was a wide gap, he said, and thought that teaching them how to swim at an early age would be an excellent way to improve their lives.
“There is something in Africa where parents are ashamed of their children (disabled),” he said. “Then (I am) trying to make people understand that their blind son could become a swimming superstar or a lawyer or medical.”
“It seems gratifying (seeing them) transforming just below my eyes,” Nnadi said about the results of such lessons.
Seeing them take their lessons, some struggle to keep calm in the water and caress it, but Nnadi and the two volunteers who work with him guide them patiently through water, often leaving them excited to quickly try.
Some of them said they give them pleasure, while it is a ability to save lives for some and is therapy for others. Experts have also said that swimming can improve mental well -being, in addition to the physical benefits of exercise.
“Swimming (it has taught me to face my fears, I have (given) with boldness, it has given me courage, it has made me overcome my fears,” said Ikenna Goodluck, 13, who is blind and among Nnadi’s apprentices.
Ejiro Justina Obinwanne said the initiative has helped her son Chinedu to be more determined in life.
“He is selfless and is determined to get something out of the lives of children that the world has ruled out in many ways,” he said about Nnadi.
