A ProCare swimming programme for women of migrant communities has won the 2009 New Zealand Recreation Association (NZRA) Outstanding Community Recreation Programme Award.
The weekly Mt Roskill programme, which started in 2004 to help refugee migrant women, now attracts up to 120 women, from 17 ethnic groups, who prefer to swim without men present.
“This project has such a big ‘feel good’ factor,” said Brendon Ward, chief executive of NZRA, which presented the award last week during a gala dinner in Napier. “The results speak for themselves. Women from all over Auckland come to participate and they report increased fitness, weight loss and a greater sense of happiness.”
The award judges highlighted ProCare’s commitment to work with community groups to develop solutions appropriate to their culture and religion, and to make recreation accessible to a segment of society that generally faces many restrictions.
“The programme is a great example of how organisations can collaborate to deliver significant health benefits in direct and culturally sensitive ways to our communities,” said ProCare’s Health Promotion Manager, Nicola Young. “Bringing together women from ethnically diverse migrant communities not only improves their social networks, but also increases their physical wellbeing, gives them and their families confidence in and around water, and promotes healthier lifestyles.”
The women’s swimming programme, which takes place every Sunday night at Cameron Pool in Mt Roskill, began after the Auckland Somali Community Association approached ProCare five years ago to help organise a place for migrant Somali women to swim. The group now includes migrant women from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Fiji, India, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Sudan.
ProCare helped to organise and fund the programme, in partnership with the Auckland Regional Public Health Services, WaterSafe Auckland, Auckland Somali Community Association, Refugees as Survivors New Zealand, and the Ministry of Social Development.
