00:00An immersive Australian experience for Sydney's newest residents.
00:08For these refugees, everything today is a first.
00:11The sand and the ocean is all new.
00:14How was it? Did you love it?
00:16So fun and so lovely.
00:18Today at Cronulla Beach, new migrants learned the basics of beach safety in their language.
00:24The place that you must go is in between the red and yellow flags
00:28and we will show you those on the beach.
00:33From the tricky terrain to the wildlife.
00:36What's this one mean?
00:37A reminder of what to do in a rip.
00:40Stay calm, don't panic and raise one hand in the air. Can we all do that together?
00:45And a shot of confidence from one of the country's best in the water.
00:49To also know that they are welcome and welcome to the beach
00:52and welcome to be able to swim and swim alongside us.
00:55The program, run by Settlement Services International and Surf Life Saving New South Wales,
01:00aims to reduce the rate of drowning among new migrants.
01:04None of us know how to swim, even my children, so it's really important to me.
01:12350 drownings per year and out of them, 30% are people of the migrant background.
01:19Some of these families arrived in Australia just two weeks ago.
01:23So some obvious concepts like wet sand moving quickly underneath your feet
01:28can get some first timers into trouble.
01:30But it's whenever the person who's swimming's feet are not on the sand anymore.
01:34So the instant reaction is to panic.
01:37These lessons run four times a year in New South Wales
01:40with hopes to expand nationally.
01:42Giving refugees the ability to enjoy one of Australia's simplest pleasures.
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