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Reporter: Swimming is a great pleasure and one of the most popular sports.
However, due to cultural reasons, millions of people who live in New York
(the majority of which are immigrants and/or come from places in the Caribbean or places near oceans/rivers)
do not know how to swim
Reporter: Barbara was born and raised in Jamaica and always feared the water.
She is learning how to swim for the first time and the challenge is staying afloat.
Her adolescent daughter convinced her to sign up for a program which is free and provides a foundation for people with low-income
Reporter: An average of 10 people drown every day in the United States.
Learning to swim is vital in a city like New York, which is surrounded by water.
Furthermore it's important to learn in order to save lives and face storms/hurricanes/floods with less trauma/terror
Reporter: The classes take place year-round in public school pools and target young children, adolescents, and adults.
They impact and transform African-American and Hispanic communities.
The risk of drowning is 3 times greater for African-Americans and Hispanics than for Caucasians.
Man: I have been scared of the water since I was 12 years old because I almost drowned in a beach.
Since then, I was so scared that I never wanted to go in the water.
Reporter: What made you decide that you wanted to learn?
My children.
Because the 6 year old knows how to swim and sometimes she asks me to come swim with us.
Since I could never say 'yes' I decided that it was time for me to learn how to swim
Reporter: The NYC Department of Parks and Recreation also offers free swimming programs.
However, these free classes are only available through an online raffle.
This year, over 27 thousand children and 1,100 adults learned how to swim.
Reporter: "The free swimming classes take place year-round.
Many of the people who learn, become instructors since they consider knowing how to swim a gift
which is not only pleasurable, but helps save lives as well.
In the city of New York, Marisa Cespedes, Televisa news.