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Zanzibar: NGO Helps Kids Get Serious about Their Swimming

Panje Project instructors Hamisi and Ndungwi provide lessons on water safety before boys from Kilindi Primary School enter the water on their first day of training. Image by Claire Felter. Zanzibar, 2015.

During trainings, boys wear swim uniforms provided by Panje Project and UK-based charity, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. The back of the uniform reads: "save lives, learn to swim, learn water safety." Image by Claire Felter. Zanzibar, 2015.

Instructors Makame, Nuhu and Mohamed clear the designated training area of any large stones before the children enter the water. Image by Claire Felter. Zanzibar, 2015.

Boys from Kilindi Primary School, all between the ages of 8 and 11 years, line up before each child is evaluated individually on his swimming ability. Image by Claire Felter. Zanzibar, 2015.

Instructor Hamisi waits with one boy as another attempts to swim the length of the training area, 25 meters. Each child's swimming level is then determined by the distance he swims. Image by Claire Felter. Zanzibar, 2015.

The boys are split into groups of three or four after their swimming ability is evaluated. Instructors Hamisi and Ndungwi talk to the groups before they get into the water. Image by Claire Felter. Zanzibar, 2015.

Swim teacher Makame walks behind his group as they practice using a stick as an aid in the water. The stick can be used both to check for dangerous objects like rocks or urchins and can tell a swimmer how deep the water is before taking a step. Image by Claire Felter. Zanzibar, 2015.

As a strength-building exercise, the boys wade through the water in figure-8 motions. Image by Claire Felter. Zanzibar, 2015.

Nuhu's group practices technical kicks on the beach to improve both the boys' swimming and floating. Image by Claire Felter. Zanzibar, 2015.

While most boys in the village of Kendwa, Zanzibar, attain basic swimming skills by the age of 10, knowing how to survive in water is not as common.

With sponsorship from the UK charity Royal National Lifeboat Institution, a local NGO, the Panje Project, has been providing aquatic survival training to children in Nungwi since 2013. Now the program is expanding, and on the first day of training for kids from Kilindi Primary School in neighboring village Kendwa, the 38 boys were quick to hand in permission slips and change into swim uniforms provided by the organization. The first session was a primer on all things water safety.