Finding Refuge in the Water

They eventually settled on the pool at The Blake School, a college prep school Moore’s son attends in Minneapolis. The school has a history of providing services to immigrant families in the Twin Cities region, including a monthly social gathering for Muslim women.

Closer to the city than Stolar’s home pool, the Blake pool was more accessible to their target audience. Add in the ready-made connection to a community of Muslim women and this all cascaded into a big idea: Could the group tailor a session specifically for Muslim women and female refugees living in the area?

“They never had access to swimming pools before they left Afghanistan, and they certainly don’t have access to swimming pools here in Minnesota [because of the tenets of their faith],” Moore says.

But his connection to the school proved crucial to opening up that resource for a few dozen women.

With the assistance of the local nonprofit Alight, which works with refugees living in Minnesota, Stolar and Moore launched the program.

But in aiming to serve a female Muslim population, the group needed to make certain changes to the standard swim lesson operating procedure. Religious restrictions require that Muslim women remain fully covered when outside their home. This means any would-be swimmers would need modest swimwear that covers their heads, arms, and legs. A standard swimsuit would not be enough.

Many of the women didn’t have the money to purchase their own swimwear, so Stolar and Moore worked to secure grant funding to purchase swimwear for participants, along with caps and goggles.

The pool where lessons are taught must also be dedicated as women-only during these sessions. Men can’t be on site, so Stolar and Moore needed to block any windows and bar entry to men. All of the instructors would have to be female, meaning that Moore would have to work on logistics beforehand and not be present for the lessons.

In June 2023, Stolar and Moore’s group held their first session specifically for refugees. Over four weeks, 32 Afghan women learned to swim in a safe, culturally respectful environment.

The group has since run additional women-only sessions that aim to serve not just refugees, but other women, such as Young-Reaves, who was born in the U.S. but because of her Muslim faith would prefer to be in a women-only space. She wears a burkini, a long Lycra garment that covers her from head to toe but notes that when it’s wet, it clings to her body, which is problematic if men are around.

Before her first session, Young-Reaves was a little concerned about whether she would be comfortable in this new setting, but she was relieved and impressed when she saw how private the space was. “I thought there would be windows that they would black out, but it was a fully enclosed pool,” she says.

How welcoming and inclusive the instructors were also helped her ease into addressing her lifelong fear of water, assisting her with donning her cap and goggles for the first time. “Sometimes I feel weird going into certain environments, but they just pulled me in and treated me like everyone else,” Young-Reaves says. “It was fabulous.”

These learn-to-swim sessions aimed at supporting women have become an ongoing, powerful experience for everyone involved.

“I’ve been a part of swimming for over 50 years, and working with the Afghan refugees was, head and shoulders, by far the most rewarding, cool, unique, wonderful, amazing, joyful experience I’ve ever had in the pool,” Stolar says.

“The women were so thankful that they had the opportunity. They were literally joyful. And that’s the word all the volunteers used. They were all just beaming that they had this opportunity.”

I’ve been a part of swimming for over 50 years, and working with the Afghan refugees was, head and shoulders, by far the most rewarding, cool, unique, wonderful, amazing, joyful experience I’ve ever had in the pool.

Carrie Stolar, USMS Adult Learn-to-Swim Instructor

Aliza Mashadi, an English language teacher who teaches elementary-aged kids, is one of those volunteers. She says she’s thrilled to be involved in the program.

Mashadi has served as a dry-side volunteer assisting with logistics, including finding culturally appropriate swimwear for participants. Working with mostly Somali-Americans or Somali refugees, Mashadi’s polyglot skills have come in handy; Mashadi grew up speaking Urdu at home and is fluent in Spanish, English, and Arabic. She earned a bachelor’s degree in teaching Spanish.

Mashadi was drawn to the program because she was looking for a meaningful volunteer experience. Her swimming background and language skills seemed perfect for the task.  

When she learned of this opportunity to help “not only women of color, but also Muslim women and women who are language learners, I was really interested in helping out,” she says.

Though Mashadi was born in the U.S., her family history and ties to Pakistan make this work all the more meaningful.

“Being from a family that spoke a different language, I kind of understand the struggle of learning another language and learning other skills, such as swimming,” Mashadi says. “Helping these women find a way to assimilate and find a place in our community, it was really important for me. It’s a really unimaginable feeling to be able to help.”

Spurred by the near-universal rave reviews from participants and volunteers, Stolar and Moore have since run several more women-only sessions in collaboration with several partners, including Minneapolis Public Schools and the Community Education Department in Hopkins, Minnesota, which hosts an English as a second language course and works with many women originally from Somalia.

The group is continually adding more sessions and locations, some of which are mixed-gender. As their offerings expand to reach even more women from various backgrounds, Stolar and Moore are looking to recruit instructors and volunteers willing to run year-round programs. The hope is that program graduates will continue honing their skills and develop a long-term relationship with the water and swimming.

Because their community connections have proven so helpful, Moore says they’re also looking for new partnerships that can help further their mission of getting more people in the water safely. The group is also looking for Masters swimmers who can lead sessions and assist in teaching.

In seeking more volunteers, Stolar and Moore underscore the power of the connection that volunteers often make with newcomers and people from other backgrounds in sharing their love of swimming.

“We always say that we don’t know who’s getting more out of it, the volunteers or the swimmers, because it’s so special,” Stolar says. “Sometimes you take for granted the skills that you have that you’ve learned over time, and it’s just so wonderful to be able to give back and support others.”

But make no mistake: The learners are getting a lot out of the program too. Young-Reaves says learning to swim has been nothing short of life-changing.

“Getting over that fear, it makes me feel like I can do anything,” she says. “That was one of my last fears, getting in the water, because I can’t breathe through water. But now that I can swim in it, and actually can do freestyle or breaststroke or backstroke, I’m not just flailing in the water now, I’m actually swimming. It makes me feel accomplished that I can learn at this age.”  

And she notes that for others like her who didn’t swim before, this access is potentially life-saving.

“Minnesota is a very big state and there are a lot of Muslims and Somalis here,” she says. “Pools not being private hinders a lot of them from learning how to swim. I think this program is very important. Everyone should know how to swim.”