We have been getting to know the new children in our group. One little boy, Leo* has refused to swim for the last 6 weeks. He has run away from us, forgotten his clothes, put on his swimming clothes and refused to enter the pool area. He has just been really scared of the water and worried the swimming teacher would throw him in. We have been trying to gain his trust.
On Monday he told me he was once thrown in a lake and nearly drowned, which made sense. We managed to persuade him to bring his clothes and just sit at the edge of the pool with his feet in the water for the next swimming lesson. This he did, and also decided to get in. When he decided to put his face in, I was amazed and thrilled to see the look of triumph on his face when he stood up.
Funnily, later on in the day he sneaked back into Luzeiro, I found him at the park. As he ran away (because he knew he shouldn´t be here) he shouted "I want to go swimming".
I am so happy that he was able to overcome this so quickly, we thought it might take the whole year to get him into the pool.