It is a heartbreaking fact that the leading cause of death for Cambodian children, drowning, remains one that is often easily prevented through simple education programmes.
Recent high-profile cases have highlighted these grim statistics, with three young friends being discovered together drowned in a pond in Kandal province, and the tragic loss of another young girl at a well-attended public pool on Phnom Penh’s Koh Pich.
While these awful incidents may have grabbed the attention of the public, the fact remains that they represent a tiny portion of annual losses, many of which are preventable.
It is estimated that more than two thousand Cambodian children drown each year, with an average of five or six kids taken from their families every day.
The Kingdom is currently ranked 12th in the world for total number of drowning deaths, a figure which belies the fact that the country’s 17-million-strong population is dwarfed by her neighbours.
Hile Teuk Kampuchea (HTK) which means “Swim Cambodia” in Khmer (literally “pull water”), is on a mission to reduce child drowning and related injuries through water safety education and survival swimming training.
The Cambodian association was formed in 2023 to deliver the programmes of SWIM (Survive When It Matters) Cambodia, which began working in the Kingdom in 2015.
The Post’s Josh Sayle sat down with Sarath Tek, director of HTK, to discuss the important work her organisation is doing to keep kids safe, and how they plan to expand their activities.
What originally prompted SWIM Cambodia to begin working here?
Conrad Foote founded SWIM Cambodia. He was moved to act after a 10-year-old he knew drowned back in 2005, while he was living in Cambodia. After returning to England he did a Masters in International Public Health. He conducted research on community perceptions to drowning and prevention work in Cambodia.
From the UK, he formed a trustee board which worked on adapting a Royal national Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) – the UK’s leading water safety institution – teaching manual into Khmer. SWIM Cambodia started in 2015, with seven volunteers trained to deliver water safety and CPR lessons to children.
SWIM Cambodia and Hile Teuk Kampuchea are different organisations. Since HTK began, it has received technical support from its parent organisation, but is responsible for delivering education.
Why is the work you are doing so important?
In Cambodia, we estimate that each day five to six children drown, with over two thousand kids a year dying in the water.
These figures are estimates – we believe the real figures may be much higher.
It is also important to remember that when we talk about drowning, it doesn’t only refer to deaths. The process of drowning means someone struggles in the water and then loses their oxygen supply. There are three possible outcomes.
Some people drown, some people survive unharmed and some people suffer serious brain injuries or mental health issues after being starved of oxygen.
This is also far more common than most people realise.
How long has HTK been working in the Kingdom?
For the past year, HTK has been the delivery partner for SWIM Cambodia.
Our first batch of training was conducted in late December last year.
Since the inception of the project, HTK has achieved several significant milestones.
We have successfully secured an agreement with the Siem Reap provincial Department of Education Youth & Sport, to deliver drowning prevention education. This partnership enables us to collaborate with local schools to provide essential water safety education.
What kind of activities are you carrying out?
At the moment, we are teaching classroom-based drowning awareness, water safety, safe rescue and CPR. We use CPR mannequins and can teach a full class in an afternoon, if necessary. A person can learn how to deliver CPR in just a few hours, and this could be the difference between life and death for many, many children and adults.
There are still too many people who are unaware of CPR. Many people, especially the uneducated or people in remote areas, still try to treat a drowned child in the old-fashioned way. They pick them up upside down and shake them, thinking that this will shake the water out of their lungs.
This is easily preventable through education.
We also have plans in place to teach survival swimming courses to children once sufficient funds are raised.
Do you train your own trainers? Who are they?
So at the moment we offer water safety education certificates and CPR training.
We trained our first batch of instructors, who we call “water safety heroes” in December last year. There were 32 teachers from two schools in Siem Reap province in the pilot class, 24 of them women.
Right now we have 19 volunteers. So far, we estimate they have shared water safety knowledge with 688 children.
They also educate parents and of course other people from within their communities, so that the knowledge sharing grows exponentially.
Of course, we have only been operating for about six months, so we need to get our name out there and make people understand why what we are doing is so important.
Once we have secured funding, we want to expand nationwide and reach as many kids as possible.
It is not like we are building a bridge or a hospital. We do not need to train doctors for years and years.
Running our courses is not expensive and once the knowledge is in the community it should spread exponentially.
Are there any state programmes offering this kind of training? What are some measures you would like to see put in place to reduce the number of these tragedies that occur every year?
As far as I know, there is no specific curriculum that teaches water safety.
Obviously, if people have a pond or other body of water close to their homes, it would be great if they could fence them in, but we understand that is not always possible.
Parents and guardians need to supervise children whenever they can, it can take less than ten minutes for disaster to strike.
I guess the main thing is to educate kids about the danger of water and that they need to respect it. Kids love to play, you know? They always think it is fun, and do not realise the danger they might be in.
Education is cheap, and once someone has the knowledge they need they can share it with others, whether it is kids sharing with other kids or whoever.
Let me tell you a story. One of our trainers has two sons, aged eight and three. There is a big pool at their house and one day while she was cooking, the three year old fell in and went under. He was drowning when his big brother noticed what was happening.
His brother caught his clothing and pulled him out, saving his life.
Apparently, he said ‘Mummy, call me a hero! I saved my brother!’
I will always remember that story. Even the mother, who was trained, forgot that a three-year-old just does not understand the danger. This happened just last month and is a clear reminder of why we all need to be careful, and that it could happen to anyone.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.