Murray Valley Sanctuary Refugee Group member Deirdre Atkins worked with VICSWIM to access affordable swimming lessons in Albury for the youngsters.

It's one of two such programs established by VICSWIM; the other is in Hamilton and overseen by the Hamilton Area Rural Australians for Refugees.

A 2018-19 report by Life Saving Victoria indicated 18 per cent of drowning deaths were people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities in Victoria.

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For reasons of culture and opportunity many children had never learned to swim.

One six-year-old told organisers she just wanted "to be like everyone else, and everyone else can swim".

Murray Valley Sanctuary Refugee Group president Penny Vine agreed.

"We need to do this for the kids to belong, it's the Australian way of life," Dr Vine said.