A school holiday aquatics programme for children from refugee families, many with little or no aquatic experience, was a huge success.

The 95 children, aged between 5 and 17 years, learnt skills to improve their swimming, water safety awareness and first aid knowledge. 

Burundian, Amanda Bucumi, 6, (pictured) was in a beginners' class. "I really enjoyed the swimming and making friends with the girls in my class," she said.

Somali, Burmese, Congolese, Burundi and Afghani were just some of the ethnicities represented by the boys and girls who participated in the programme at Kelston Girl's School, Auckland, during the last week of the April school holidays.

A range of other sporting activities were also included, providing opportunities for learning with a focus on friendship, respect and striving for excellence within the spirit of fairness.

Many refugees come from land-locked countries and therefore lack the swimming ability and water safety awareness inherent to most New Zealanders, said Joanna Bliss, Auckland Development Coordinator for RMS Refugee Resettlement.

"This programme gave children an invaluable opportunity to gain confidence in the water while also having lots of fun during their school holidays."

The programme was funded by the New Zealand Olympic Committee and was a collaboration between RMS Refugee Resettlement, Refugees as Survivors New Zealand, WaterSafe Auckland, Auckland Regional Public Health Service, Swimming New Zealand and the Dean Greenwood Swim School.

It is hoped that this is just the first of many more to come.