LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — About 20 children in shorts and vests gather at a swimming pool on a sweltering afternoon in Nigeria’s economic hub of Lagos. A coach holds the hand of a boy who is blind as he demonstrates swimming motions 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 Sighted, where Emeka Chuks Nnadi, the swimming coach, uses his Swim in 1 Day, or SID, nonprofit to teach swimming to disabled children.
In a country where hundreds drown every year, often because of 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 aided their personal development.
“It (has) helped me a lot, especially in class,” said 14-year-old Fikayo Adodo, one of Nnadi’s trainees who is blind. “I am very confident now to speak with a crowd, with people. My brain is sharper, like very great.”
The World Health Organization considers drowning as one of the leading causes of death through unintentional injury globally, with at least 300,000 people dying from drowning every year. The most at risk are young children.
Many of the deaths occur in African countries like Nigeria, with limited resources and training to avert such deaths.
In Nigeria — a country of more than 200 million people, 35 million of whom the government says are disabled — the challenge is far worse for disabled people who have less access to limited opportunities and resources in addition to societal stigma.
While the initiative is raising awareness among the children about drowning, it benefits wider society in different ways, Nnadi said, especially “if you want to have disabled people that are contributing to the economy and not just dependent on us as a society to take care of them.”
Changing a stereotype
Nnadi recalled setting up the nonprofit after moving back 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 a young age would be a great way to improve their lives.
“There is a thing in Africa where parents are ashamed of their (disabled) kids,” he said. “So (I am) trying to make people understand that your child that is blind could actually become a swimming superstar or a lawyer or doctor.”
“I find it rewarding (watching) them transform right under my eyes,” Nnadi said of the results of such lessons.
Lives are being transformed a stroke at a time
Watching them take their lessons, some struggle to stay calm in the water and stroke their way through it, but Nnadi and the two volunteers working with him patiently guide them through the water, often leaving them excited to quickly try again.
Some of them said that it gives them pleasure, while it is a lifesaving skill for some and it’s therapy for others. Experts have also said that swimming can improve mental well-being, in addition to the physical benefits from exercising.
“Swimming (has) taught me to face my fears, it has (given) me boldness, it has given me courage, it has made me overcome my fears,” said 13-year-old Ikenna Goodluck, who is blind and among Nnadi’s trainees.
Ejiro Justina Obinwanne said that the initiative has helped her son Chinedu become more determined in life.
“He is selfless and determined to make something out of the lives of children that the world has written off in a lot of ways,” she said of Nnadi.
