The man building swimming pools in Gaza – podcast

Journalist Amjed Tantesh talks about his project to teach Gaza’s children how to swim. With reporting from our chief Middle East correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison

For decades, Amjed Tantesh has taught children in Gaza how to swim.

But each time the journalist builds a pool, it ends up being destroyed by an Israeli attack. “I cannot remember the number of pools I have had to build and rebuild,” he tells Annie Kelly.

Yet Israel’s latest war in Gaza has brought much worse. Not only was Amjed’s “most beautiful” pool turned to rubble, he has lost dozens of loved ones too: his brother, who taught him to swim; his mother; several of his fellow swimming coaches; and dozens of children he had taught to swim over the years.

Still, he has kept going. Today in Focus hears about his efforts to rebuild five pools on the beach, and from the children who have restarted their swimming lessons.

Meanwhile, our chief Middle East correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison, describes how the years of war and blockade have wrecked the childhoods of hundreds of thousands of young people across the Gaza Strip.

With additional reporting from Seham Tantesh.

You can find more about Amjed’s swimming pool project here.