I was struck by the photo of the goggles in the dirt held together with rubber bands and string. It suggests a determination to swim no matter what. The photo is from the Dollar Street website which is a collection of images from around the world largely of families and individuals with their material items such as beds, stoves, teeth, houses etc. The photo of the goggles are in the ‘toys in the world’ category belonging to a family in Papua New Guinea. There’s a lot to learn from the Dollar Street resource and I like how it resonates with people in different ways: https://www.gapminder.org/dollar-street
I also can’t help but compare these goggles with the countless ones that I’ve thrown away once leaks begin. This serves as a small everyday reminder of the material inequalities around swimming and this is before even considering the pool itself. Resources on swimming inequalities are plentiful and as expected are divided along lines of income and gender. A recent Gallup poll (link below) in 142 countries found that a majority of people aged 15 and older cannot swim unassisted.
The nature of swimming inequality is incredibly stark in the BBC Radio 4 story of Amjed Tantesh who has spent a large portion of his life trying to build swimming pools in Gaza and teach children there to swim. It’s a Sisyphean tale of tragedy, but also one of sheer determination not to fail and he has still not given up. For me, there could not be a better account of swimming inequality which highlights how access to swimming in safe waters should never be underappreciated. This broadcast is available on BBC Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct5pc6
An Anthropology of Swimming 