Taiwanese can’t swim.
Of course I don’t mean that ALL Taiwanese can’t swim… just that in general… most Taiwanese can’t swim.
I know that Taiwan is an island…
I know that Taiwan’s inland lakes and rivers are not filled with hippos and crocs and snakes and other deadly animals like in Kenya where my friend Salamba grew up and had an excuse for not being able to swim.
- While we were in a boat on a *very* small lake -
SQJ - “Salamba you look so scared”
Salamba - “I can’t swim”
SQJ - “Why not”
Salamba - “In Kenya we don’t go near the water because people get killed by animals in the river”
NOT THE CASE IN TAIWAN.
I’ve often wondered why so many Taiwanese can’t swim… and I’m not the only one noticing.
Taipei Times - Taiwanese kids at unusually high risk of drowning
A group has called the attention of parents and the government to the unusually high risk of drowning in Taiwan, citing statistics showing that Taiwanese children are three times more likely to drown than Australian children.
According to numbers released by the WHO and cited by the foundation, only 0.5 out of 100,000 children up to 14 years old in Australia died while playing in water in 2001.
The figure in Taiwan, however, was 1.8 per 100,000 person, “which is three times higher than the figure in Australia,” Lin Yue-chin (林月琴), executive director of the foundation, told the press conference.
I’d guess that the average Australian kid spends LOTS more time in the water than a Taiwanese kid… making the stats even more askew.
I feel like the situation won’t improve until Taiwanese start learning to swim while young. As it is… parents treat the water with fear… rather than respect… and it creates a cycle where people get more and more scared of the water and with that fear comes a lack of preparation and knowledge which then leads to more water related deaths.
The swimming pool in my community opened the other day. My 9 year old and 10 year old can already swim… but we’ll continue to practice all summer. We are trying to help our 5 year old learn over the summer, too.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Lisa // Jun 27, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Funny to read, as I just returned from a meeting of host families for Taiwanese exchange students. One comment tonight: “Taiwanese don’t swim.” We have a shallow pool for our kids, and our students last year had a ball splashing around in it. I think they would like to swim, but it’s safer to keep the water waist high and just let them play in it. We won’t push it, but it is hard to believe they are surrounded by water and are so afraid of it. (After reading your page, I think I’ll put them in life jackets. Yes, even in 3-1/2 feet of water!)
2 Maybe I Was Wrong... // Jul 1, 2007 at 3:20 am
[...] I read Sandy’s post about the kids in the pool I thought maybe I was crazy… or maybe kids are learning to swim [...]
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