On Tuesday I attended a Community Parks and Recreation Committee Meeting. These are held every six weeks as part of the annual Council meeting cycle and are attended by the Mayor, District Councillors and staff from the various Council operations. We discussed the Unison Learn to Swim Program, held at the Rotorua Aquatic Centre and how successful it has become in teaching our children to swim and be safe around the lakes, streams and pools that are such an important feature of our region.
During the discussion I recalled the terrible tragedy of a new immigrant to Rotorua who drowned last year at Lake Tarawera. He was playing cricket with his children and family and accidently stepped into very deep water. He had come from India and neither he nor anyone else in his family new how to swim. There was no one around who could save him.
I asked at the meeting if there are any systems in place to ensure that new immigrants to our region know how to swim or have basic water safety skills. It expected that the children of immigrants will be catered for in the Unison school program, but no one knew of any program available to the adults themselves. Ironically it's the adults we would expect to be able to help their children in difficulty, not vice versa.
I have asked Rotorua Aquatic Centre manager Louis Sylvester to meet with Heather MacAllister who is the Settlement Support Co-ordinator for the Rotorua District Council to discuss these issues. I hope they will be able to set up a program specifically based around the needs of new immigrants to Rotorua. Hopefully future tragedies like the one at Lake Trarwera last year can be averted.
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