BANGLADESH / SWIMMING

More children drown in flood-prone Bangladesh than anywhere else in the world. 17,000 Bangladeshi children die each year simply because they cannot swim. With more extreme weather patterns, flooding and rising sea-levels expected because of climate change, UNICEF and partners are in a race against time to teach more Bangladeshi children to save their own lives and others. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:23
• Production Date: 4 September 2009
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: NATURAL RESOURCES; ENVIRONMENT; SOCIAL GROUPS; HEALTH; DISASTER PREVENTION; DISASTER PREPAREDNESS; DISASTER RELIEF
• Geographic Subject: BANGLADESH
• MAMS Id: U090904c

Description

STORY: BANGLADESH / SWIMMING
TRT: 2:23
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / BANGLA / NATS

DATELINE: AUGUST 2009, SIRAJGANJ DISTRICT AND DHAKA, BANGLADESH

Shotlist

AUGUST 2009, SIRAJGANJ DISTRICT, BANGLADESH

1. Med shot, children exercising
2. Close up, child exercising
3. Close up, children walking towards the pond
4. Med shot, swimming instructor helping a boy get into the pond
5. Med shot, three children playing in the water
6. SOUNDBITE (Bangla) Shahinur Alam, Community swimming instructor:
“I am teaching them so that they can benefit on the future, I am giving them a vaccine against death so that they do not die because of drowning.”
7. Wide shot, children in water
8. Close up, child in water
9. Med shot, children learning to swim
10. Close up, child learning to swim
11. Med shot, children learning to swim
12. Close up, child being taught swimming
13. Wide shot, child swimming with the instructor overlooking
14. Close up, child swimming
15. Pan, paddy field
16. Wide shot, children playing in a pond
17. Med shot, woman washing clothes as children play in the pond
18. Close up, woman washing clothes

AUGUST 2009, DHAKA, BANGLADESH

19. SOUNDBITE (English) Carel De Rooy, Representative UNICEF, Bangladesh:
“Some estimates are that if the sea levels were to rise over the next century by one meter, a third of Bangladesh could come under water.

AUGUST 2009, SIRAJGANJ DISTRICT, BANGLADESH

20. Pan, children playing in a flooded street
21. Med shot, girls playing in a street

AUGUST 2009, DHAKA, BANGLADESH

22. SOUNDBITE (English) Carel De Rooy, Representative UNICEF, Bangladesh:
“What we are doing now is that we are pre-empting a situation for five to seven years down the road. This is very relevant for Bangladesh.”

AUGUST 2009, SIRAJGANJ DISTRICT, BANGLADESH

23. Wide shot, female swimming instructor getting children ready for training.
24. Med shot, children taking their T-shirts off
25. Wide shot, child coming down to the pond to learn swimming
26. Med shot, child acting as if she is drowning
27. Zoom in, child rescuing a drowning child
28. Wide shot, children swimming
29. Wide shot, class in progress
30. Med shot, girl reading her textbook
31. Med shot, women dancing
32. Med shot, women singing
33. Med shot, children singing while sitting on the floor
34. Close up, girl child
35. Med shot, children's feet
36. Wide shot, children playing and singing

Storyline

Lining up for lifesaving, these Bangladeshi children are about to get an unusual lesson in immunization. But instead of getting jabs and medicine, they’re going down to the pond for a swim.

SOUNDBITE (Bangla) Shahinur Alam, Community swimming instructor:
“I am teaching them so that they can benefit on the future, I am giving them a vaccine against death so that they do not die because of drowning.”

Bangladesh has done so well with treating and vaccinating against other big killers of children like diarrhoea, measles and malnutrition, that deaths from drowning were hidden.

Now it’s emerged that more children die from drowning in Bangladesh than anywhere else in the world – 17,000 Bangladeshi children die each year simply because they cannot swim.

Water is everywhere in this country of massive rivers, deltas, rice paddies and ponds. Climate change is expected to lead to more extreme weather patterns, flooding and rising sea-levels.

SOUNDBITE (English) Carel De Rooy, Representative UNICEF, Bangladesh:
“Some estimates are that if the sea levels were to rise over the next century by one meter, a third of Bangladesh could come under water.

UNICEF and partners are in a race against time to teach more Bangladeshi children to save their lives, and others, by swimming.

SOUNDBITE (English) Carel De Rooy, Representative UNICEF, Bangladesh:
“What we are doing now is that we are pre-empting a situation for five to seven years down the road. This is very relevant for Bangladesh.”

So far 35, 000 children have been taught to swim across the country and countless others taught to save.

They’re taught not to risk leaping in themselves but rather find a stick, or pole and rescue the drowning child. So they may not turn out to be Olympic swimmers, but they’re getting a lesson for life – and saving others’ lives.

From older literate children who read about preventing death from injury, to community workers who learn songs warning about the dangers of drowning, and the little ones who learn through play and song – all building bonds for a safer future.