Smiling broadly, perhaps to hide their nervousness, dozens of young African migrants wearing swimming goggles took their first strokes and exhaled into knee-deep water on a Tenerife beach, led by Spanish volunteer instructors.
Many are experiencing water trauma after a perilous crossing to the Canary Islands from countries such as Senegal or Mauritania crammed into precarious boats.
Some barely survived, and others lost family members or friends to the ocean.