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How swimming lessons are helping African migrants overcome trauma

As tourists work on their tans, a group of young Africans are paddling in the shallows of a Tenerife beach trying to overcome their fear of the sea.

With nervous smiles, some tentatively begin to take their first strokes, trying to float or simply to learn how to breathe easily in the sea.

All have spent days or weeks on terrifying journeys crossing the Atlantic Ocean to the Canary Islands from countries like Senegal or Mauritania in flimsy, cramped boats.

Many migrants are left with water trauma from their experiences. Some saw family members or friends drown during the journey. One of the worst fears is falling asleep and plunging into the sea to be lost forever.

In an effort to overcome this deep emotional shock, a team of Spanish volunteers are trying to slowly teach the migrants how to gain confidence – or even have fun – in the water.

Next to the sunbathers, the anxious migrants line up in the water, some wearing swimming goggles, to be coaxed through the drill by volunteers.

The two-month scheme, called Project Agua (Project Water), began in 2022 after a large surge in migrants from West Africa. It now takes place every summer on the Playa de Las Teresitas beach in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, a popular spot for holidaymakers.

“Some of these people have suffered great shock. They have spent 10 or 12 days at sea and might have seen family or loved ones die. For them, the sea has only negative associations,” Jorge Balcazar, coordinator of Project Agua at the Spanish rescue NGO Proemaid, told i.

“We try to teach them techniques to swim, how to breathe and to move. The children tend to learn faster than the adults as they normally do and there are less in the group.”

Migrants take part in the activity organized by the NGO ProemAID's "Water Project" to overcome the traumatic experience of a dangerous sea crossing, on Las Teresitas beach in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, Spain, July 24, 2024, REUTERS/Borja Suarez
The project helps people overcome the traumatic experience of a dangerous sea crossing (Photo: Borja Suarez/Reuters)

Mr Balcazar said the scheme was designed to help boost the self-esteem of people who are at a low ebb, not just because of their experience on the high seas.

As migrants, making it to Spain in a tiny boat by sea is just the first of many hurdles they must overcome as they try to carve out a new life for themselves in Europe.

“After arriving in Spain from Africa, many of these people move from the Canary Islands to the Spanish mainland and may not have much to do with the water. Some have had none at all. It may be their first time in the sea. Others are fishermen and live by the sea,” he said.

“But teaching them to overcome this trauma can give them a sense of self-empowerment.”

The number of migrants arriving irregularly by sea to the archipelago between January and August 31 reached 25,524, a 123.1 per cent increase on last year.

But thousands never make it to dry land in Spain. Walking Borders, a migration rights group, said in a report last year that almost 5,000 people died at sea on the route from West Africa to the Canary Islands in 2023.

To halt the tide of migrants, Spain agreed a ‘circular migration’ deal with Mauritania and Gambia in September, in which a fixed number of migrants will be granted work visas for about nine months but then they must return.

Madrid has signed similar deals with Morocco, Senegal and Latin American countries but only 16,000 people benefited, according to Spanish government figures for 2022.

However, experts have said studies showed this has limited success because only small numbers of migrants are included.

Mamadou M Bathily, a 24-year-old trained IT specialist from Senegal, arrived in Tenerife along with 215 others this summer.

It is not an experience he would ever repeat.

“I wouldn’t do it again. It’s very difficult, very, very dangerous. It’s a risk we took, because we didn’t have a choice. It’s tough in Mali,” he told Reuters.

The Project Agua volunteers work both with non-swimmers and those, like fishermen, with some experience of life on the seas, to “remove or reverse that trauma“, Mr Balcazar said.

“We saw much more progress with the children than with the adults as they learn faster and there were less of them,” he aded.

Throughout the summer, about 400 adults and 150 children take part in the course, said Francisco Navarro, from ACCEM, another non-profit involved in the scheme.

A migrant takes part in the activity organized by the NGO ProemAID's "Water Project" to overcome the traumatic experience of a dangerous sea crossing, on Las Teresitas beach in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, Spain, July 24, 2024. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
The project helps teach skills and boost self-esteem (Photo: Borja Suarez/Reuters)

“The programme shows people skills to swim, to breath and to float. It shows people ways to get used to being in the sea after undergoing a traumatic experience. The Canary Islands route is one of the most dangerous in the world,” Mr Navarro told i.

“It is a psychological lesson to get people over their fear. It has been very successful in helping people.”

Not all the time is spent in the water. Some days volunteers play football on the beach or other games with the migrants to provide some diversion.

There are 25 volunteers, some of whom are off-duty firefighters.

Project Agua has ended for this year, but it is expected to be repeated next summer when more migrants arrive in the Canary Islands from West Africa.

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