SWIMMING AS A LIFE SKILL: Basra’s first female swimming instructor launches a dream

By Nagham Maki in Basra

Ilaf Hamid carefully covers her head with a rubber cap, puts in earplugs and adjusts her goggles.  Then she takes a deep breath and leaps into the water in a smooth motion. Once in the water she flips left and right, almost as if she was a graceful creature that lives in the water.

Basra is a conservative city and it is rare to see women swimming. Hamid, 34, is the first swimming instructor in the city. And she’s on a mission.

“I want swimming to be part of the school curriculum because it teaches children courage, discipline and opens new horizons for them,” she explains. “Diving gives great energy and strength and helps a person overcome obstacles. That’s why I wanted to pass on this passion to others, especially to women and girls.”

When she was just three years old, Hamid fell into the Tigris River. The current pulled her under and for a moment, she was lost to the world. The fear from that moment has haunted her, as it would anybody who nearly drowned, and gave her nightmares. But she refused to let the fear consume her and instead it became fuel for a different dream.

“That incident was a turning point in my life,” Hamid explained. “It instilled in me a fear of water but over time, this fear turned into a motivation to challenge myself and break barriers. Today water is part of my everyday life.”

Hamid earned an internationally recognized diving certification from Scuba Schools International and became the first licensed female diving instructor in Iraq.

“I am proud that I was able to put Iraq on the SSI map, which includes 165 countries,” Hamid says.

One of Hamid’s proudest moments came when she took her students to the Shatt al-Arab, a body of water with a strong current. Hamid ended up diving 12 meters down and when she emerged, she says it was with a newfound strength that came from conquering her fears. She explains that the water was not just a physical challenge, it was a metaphor for life itself.

Despite the significant challenges, such as lack of funding and the limited availability of swimming pools, Hamid continues to work to develop swimming and diving in Basra.

She has been trying to establish a swimming school to train young girls and empower them to develop their water skills. She has also organized friendly competitions between schools and held awareness workshops to encourage swimming as a life skill.

“My greatest goal is to spread the culture around swimming,” Hamid explains. “Through training, I try to build the trainees’ self-confidence as well as their physical strength and skills.”

Hamid has also been using swimming as a form of physical therapy for people with conditions such as diabetes, cerebral palsy and autism. She explains that learning to regulate breathing while swimming can provide an important boost for the immune system.

Now Hamid stands at the edge of the pool watching the children in the swimming pool. When she blows her whistle, the children begin moving in a synchronized way in the water.

“I dream of establishing an Olympic-standard swimming pool where I can organize competitions for children and develop their skills from an early age,” Hamid adds. “I want swimming to be part of the school curriculum because it teaches children courage and discipline and opens new horizons for them.”

This story was completed as part of a series of articles supported by the “Qarib” program, a regional initiative funded by the French Development Agency (AFD) and implemented by the French Media Development Agency (CFI).