650 girls have been trained in survival swimming — a number Hue Help and our partners have built quietly but steadily, on the journey toward a safer, more equal future for women and girls in Huế.
When Swimming Is No Longer “A Boy’s Thing”
Across many parts of Vietnam, a deep-rooted belief has been passed down for generations: swimming, sports, and survival skills are “for boys.” Girls are raised to stay close to home, to keep away from rivers and ponds — as if safety meant staying away from risk altogether, rather than being equipped to face it.
Global data from the World Health Organization shows that boys are twice as likely to die from drowning as girls. At first glance, that statistic might suggest girls are already “safer.” But the truth is more complicated: a lower death rate doesn’t mean girls are better protected — more often, it simply means they have fewer chances to be near water, fewer chances to ever set foot in a pool or take a swimming lesson in the first place. Without that training, without the chance to build survival reflexes, girls still carry a quiet, hidden vulnerability. It just hasn’t surfaced yet, because they’re rarely given the opportunity to be near water at all.
This is one small piece of a much bigger picture around gender equality: in many communities, girls still have lower rates of school attendance and less access to skills training, sports, and extracurricular programs than boys. That gap has nothing to do with girls’ ability — it comes from invisible assumptions about who “should” learn what, and who “should” get which opportunities.
It’s out of this concern that Hue Help’s Swimming for Safety program, together with our partners, launched a series of projects on drowning prevention and gender equality — built on one simple belief: every child, regardless of gender, deserves the chance to learn to swim and protect their own life.
650 Girls Trained in Survival Swimming
Over the past period, Hue Help has partnered with the Hue City Association for the Protection of Children’s Rights to deliver two survival-swimming projects designed specifically for girls:
- 300 girls trained in survival swimming through the project “Empower Women and Girls Through Swimming,” funded by the Decathlon Foundation.
- 350 girls trained in survival swimming through the project “Empowering Women and Girls Through Water Safety Skills and Swimming to Prevent Drowning,” funded by the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI).
In total, 650 girls across Huế have now gained survival swimming skills — a number that may still be small next to the real need, but one that reflects a sustained, wholehearted effort across several partners: Hue Help, the Hue City Association for the Protection of Children’s Rights, and the invaluable support of the Decathlon Foundation and the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI).
For each girl who learns to swim, it’s more than a life skill — it’s a statement: girls, too, have the right to learn, to be strong, and to protect themselves, just like anyone else.
Beyond Girls — Women Deserve to Be Empowered Too
Alongside girls, Hue Help has also placed real focus on adult women, who are often the primary caregivers in their families yet are rarely given the chance to learn safety skills for themselves.
Working with the Decathlon Foundation, Hue Help has trained 200 women in water safety and basic first aid — giving them the ability to protect themselves and respond quickly in an emergency, whether for their own sake or their children’s.
And this work isn’t slowing down. By the end of 2026, Hue Help will partner with CFLI once again to train an additional 300 women in water safety and first aid, growing the network of women equipped with the confidence and skills to keep themselves and their families safe.
A Long Road, Heading in the Right Direction
650 girls, 200 women, and 300 more women on the way — these are concrete numbers, but the real impact of the Swimming for Safety program runs deeper than the count. It’s about chipping away, step by step, at the old belief that swimming and survival skills “aren’t for women and girls.” It’s about giving girls and women an equal chance to learn, to train, and to face risk with confidence instead of avoiding it.
Hue Help believes that when a girl is taught to swim, it isn’t just her life that becomes safer — an outdated way of thinking about gender starts to shift, too. That’s why this program keeps going, in the hope that more girls and women will gain access to skills that, by rights, should belong to everyone, regardless of gender.
Hue Help extends our heartfelt thanks to the Hue City Association for the Protection of Children’s Rights, the Decathlon Foundation, and the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) — partners whose trust and support have made it possible for this work to keep reaching further.
