Kidz Power update June 2012

Hello all!

I can't believe its almost a year since my last blog update - shocking!

Kidz Power is still going strong, with hordes of kids eagerly awaiting us when we arrive every second Saturday of the month. Since the last update, we have had a Christmas party and concert, there is a new manager at Teddy Bear Clinic and T. is going from strength to strength. I took photos to share with you, but unfortunately had a laptop crash and lost the lot.

We were invited to tea at Teddy Bear Clinic by the outgoing manager and her boss as a "thank you". There was talk of extending the concept in other areas in South Africa, and also of doing some kind of survey to measure whether or not the self defence lessons were beneficial. I haven't heard anything further on either of these, but I am happy that we are reaching some of the kids at least.

There are many stories, but one stands out for me. Ayesha, my self-defence partner, was in Port Elizabeth participating with her students in a Karate competition and I decided to hold the fort on my own. There were a number of new kids in the group, mostly quite young. I asked one of my "regulars" to help me to demonstrate and show the kids the self-defence moves. When I asked her her name, she spoke so softly that I could not hear her. She was terribly shy, but a very capable assistant and as I praised her her confidence grew. At the end of the lesson, to my great surprise, she came up to me and gave me a big hug! That opened the flood gates and one by one most of the girls came for a hug. Wow! I felt like I'd been given a huge gift! I told them I was "rich in hugs".

In case you've forgotten, "T", mentioned above, is the little girl we sponsored for Karate lessons. She was doing really badly at school and had lost a lot of confidence. I should say Ayesha sponsors her, my part in it is really small. According to Ayesha she has now moved up a belt (from White to Pre-Yellow One) and regularly takes medals at the Karate competition. Her confidence continues to increase. It was great to see her again at the Teddy Bear Clinic Christmas concert, where she performed her Kata for the other kids. One starfish at a time!

A postscript to this story is that Ayesha is now also giving free Karate lessons to her older sister. When T's mom got a job and couldn't bring her anymore, her older sister (all of 12 years old) brought  her for lessons, braving the taxis, darkness and I don't like to think what else. Then she would sit there watching the lesson for an hour and take her sister home again. Ayesha didn't think it was right to exclude her and one day asked her if she would like to join in. She was thrilled! So now both sisters are doing Karate. Ayesha, you are going straight to heaven!

Lately, there has been a very large group and Ayesha has split them, with her taking the older kids and me taking the little ones. We have been teaching them to say "NO!" when someone tries to hurt them. Some of them are so little, I doubt they really understand about self-defence. But I think that they are getting the message that Kidz Power tries to impart - that they are accepted, important and deserve to be respected.