Kidz Power update July 2011

Its already the middle of the year, Kidz Power has been going for more than a year now and still going strong!

T (see last blog) has been reguarly attending Karate lessons twice a week with Ayesha since about March and is doing exceptionally well. In her first competition, she took two silver medals! Her mother says she hates school and needs lots of persuasion to get her ready every day, but for Karate she needs no encouragement! I have heard from a number of different people, including her mother, that her confidence has increased enormously. Ayesha is providing the lessons free of charge (thanks, Ayesha, for the difference you are making in this little girl's life) and the Kidz Power fund assists with transport costs, which are minimal.

Self-defence classes have continued monthly at Teddy Bear Clinic, with the exception of a break over Easter. Our thinking was that Easter eggs and concentration don't go well together, and that the kids wouldn't miss us. But they did! They were very pleased to see us at the next lesson! I noticed that discipline is improving, the kids are more organised and know what is expected.

We had some excitement early in the year with a Norwegian journalist taking photographs of us working with the kids for an article on people working with abused children. So there are pictures of us somewhere in a Norwegian magazine! I have yet to contact her to ask her for a copy.

Ayesha has been having a very busy time with Karate competitions so I have roped in a number of helpers over the last few months. In their own way, they have contributed to the Kidz Power mission, which is to help the kids to develop self-confidence and a sense of empowerment. A big thank you to Bev Midgely, Shirley Bailey and Holly (a volunteer at Teddy Bear Clinic)!

Shirley commented that working with the kids had given her a real lift! Its true that you "get more out than you put in", and its not just a smug feeling of having "done your bit". I don't know why it is, but the biggest gift is to be able to give. And, as I have learnt, you don't have to be rich or famous or have lots of time.

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you find it".

Cheers for now!
Sue

Kidz Power update Feb 2011

Its been a while since we gave you a Teddy Bear Clinic update. Somehow time just rushes by and when you open your eyes, its well into 2011, Christmas, New Year and holidays are past and we’re back into the rat-race!

Teddy Bear Clinic Christmas Party

For the last Court Preparedness session of the year, Teddy Bear Clinic give the kids a Christmas Party, complete with Ronald MacDonald (the MacDonald’s clown), Steers for lunch, take-away goodie bags and a gift for each. Kidz Power volunteered to supply the cakes for the kids while they watched Ronald do his magic tricks. Ayesha and I roped in friends and family to make 12 huge cakes(!) , as per Teddy Bear Clinic estimates. We decided to make them in the Kidz Power colours – shown below. 12 large lurid cakes!

In the end, only about 4 cakes were used. I don’t know if fewer kids showed up then expected, or how Teddy Bear Clinic got the order so wrong, but we’ll be a bit more suspicious next year if 12 cakes are specified! I’m sure the remaining cakes will have found good homes!

We also put on a little concert for the parents, letting the kids show them what they had learnt. All went well except for a teenager who got a little carried away and was a bit overly realistic with the supposedly mock attack! Luckily no harm was done  and the rest of the concert went off smoothly.

With the concert over and our job done, I rushed off to be in time for the start of the 24 hour Mountain Bike marathon, for which I had organised a team!

Starting up again

After what seemed like a very long break, Teddy Bear Clinic’s Court Preparedness sessions, and our self-defence classes, started up again in February. We were surprised to find four boxing bags strung up in our “dojo”.  The kids liked them and expended some energy while waiting to start. Maybe that’s why they were so  well-disciplined!

Ayesha and I both thoroughly enjoyed the class. After emphasising, once again, that while practising in class we do not take out our friends, Ayesha showed the kids some new moves, using big strong looking Dads as guinea pigs. When she demonstrated how a smaller person can get the better of a big strong-looking person, they applauded and cheered spontaneously!  When you see the little ones looking like they are just having fun, its hard to remember that they are all there because they have been abused in some way and are waiting to testify in court. The older kids are a bit more subdued, but are keen to learn.

There is one special little girl, about 9 or 10 years old, who has been at every session since we started. She is tall and lanky, always wears pink and smiles all the time. Lets call her T. – we are not allowed to show ‘photos or use the kids’ names.  Ayesha mentioned that T. has talent, and that she would like to have her in her Karate classes. After the class we chatted to the Mom, who is slim and lanky like her daughter, soft-spoken, intelligent  and obviously cares deeply for her daughter. She told us that T. is doing very badly at school, possibly as a result of “what happened to her”, and was hoping that giving her an opportunity to do well at something outside the academic field would help to lift her self esteem.   She undertook to get her to Linden for Karate lessons. She is unemployed, though, and I considered that we should use some of the Kidz Power fund to help with transport costs and to sponsor her for clothing, competitions and so on, when the time comes. We have agreed to discuss it with the mother in more detail next session. 

I am aware that we may be committing to something that may require effort (i.e. money) to sustain long term,  but it seems to me that there is no real debate – isn’t this what the dream was about? Giving deserving kids potentially life-changing opportunities? I hope you will agree, because I may need to call on you again in a year or so when the money in our fund runs out!

Let me know your views on this!