Geez, it's simple, no ocean side government housing so they never learned to swim on the streets without enough water to even try. I was like the show Titus, my uncle tossed me off the dock and did yell move your arms and my dad pushed my uncle in and said if he drowns I'm kicking your ass, he was holding a beer also I think Pabst Blue Ribbon can.
As a 4 year old I was with my Grandparents on a visit to a well known health spa in California. They had several large pools, both hot and cold and mud baths. I was walking along and fell into a pool. It was my first time in any large body of water but I managed to make it to the side where someone fished me out. A year later we were at our summer business in Nebraska and Grandma I guess remembered my encounter and decided to drop us off every day for free swimming classes at the town pool that was conducting the classes for local kids after a couple kids had died in the nearby river.
For me it was exciting, the classes were well done as they taught us how to tread water, how to hold our breath, swim underwater, back stroke, doggy paddle and other common ways to swim as well as diving instruction off the lower diving board.
By the time it was over I totally lost my fear of deep water and never had a problem after that. Thanks Grandma! Oh, and my mouthy older stupid brother found a local kid to annoy who almost drowned him and he had to be resuscitated by a life guard. I loved that as I sort of hated my older brother. too bad the kid didn't finish him off. The kid who tried drowning him I thought of as a sort of hero.
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