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!

The First Self-Defence Lesson

All this time we’ve been talking about teaching self-defence to abused kids, and on Saturday 11 September we were finally able to start!

We had about 35 children, funnily enough, not the same ones as we had at the launch. I can see that we are going to have to be super flexible!

Ayesha started by putting all the kids into a circle and getting each one to introduce themselves and tell us something about themselves. After some initial confusion where a number of kids put their hands up to indicate that they couldn’t speak English – and then went on to speak pretty good English! – they shyly old us their names and favourite colour (the girls) and the rugby team they support (the boys).

I had some misgivings at this stage, the kids were so quiet and shy. Not for long! When Ayesha lined them up and showed them how to punch, and how to kick, they started enjoying themselves. Even the volunteers joined in, a bit noisily. By the time we brought out the punchbags, the kids were thoroughly enjoying themselves, judging by the big smiles, powerful punches and shouts of “Tay”!  even the quietest, most reserved little girls with the biggest eyes were dishing out punches to be reckoned with, looking to Ayesha for approval all the while.

You may be asking – and what did I do all this time? I acted as a human backstop to the smaller tikes holding the punch bag – everyone had a turn to hold the bag and to punch – in case they stumbled backwards and tried to fill in by helping them to stand correctly, encouraging them and praising them.

We were lucky to be joined by Bianca Szmetana, who is one of Ayesha’s karate students (red belt) who was at the launch. Bianca, who is 12, has a very compassionate heart, and wanted to get involved. She walked up and down the rows of kids, correcting their stance and generally acting as co-instructor to Ayesha.

We finished the session with a game to get to know each other, standing in a circle and tossing bean bags to each other. The idea was to call out the person’s name before throwing it to them. After some initial tossing to and fro from brother to sister and back, we got the game going on a more inclusive basis and I’m sure that by the end of the game, everyone knew Bianca’s name, if not mine!

With the changing audience and the 4 weeks in between sessions, I’m sure that we will play that game many times before we remember all the kids’ names, but I won’t forget their faces and the way their initial reserve turned to smiles and joyful participation.

Can’t wait for the next time!

Kidz Power Launch

Finally, Kidz Power has launched!

14 August was the date set to tell, and show the Teddy Bear Clinic kids and their parents what Kidz Power is about.

A month ago, I met with the volunteer counsellers to get their buy-in. Ayesha prepared brochures and posters to be given to the parents and indemnity forms to be signed.

On the spur of the moment, I asked Woolworths Fontainebleau for some goodies and without too much fuss, they said yes. We could only fetch the stuff on Friday afternoon; and I commissioned my ever faithful and ready-to-help parents to collect on my behalf. We had no idea what or how much we would be able to get from them, so Mom spent Thursday and Friday morning baking, and I slaved over a hot supermarket trolley.

Friday afternoon at 3:45 Mom 'phoned sounding exhausted. "What, exactly,  did you ask Woolworths for?" They had given us a truckload of stuff - including meat, 3 boxes of fruit and vegetables and bread rolls! My kitchen (and car) looked like a Spaza!

Meanwhile, Ayesha had organised the demo with some of the kids from her Dojo.

By 12:45, the scheduled start time, kids and parents were seated and eagerly waiting. Marilu (From TBC) introduced us; I said a few words about what Kidz Power is about and handed over to Ayesha for the demo. Fantastic, the way she engages with the kids! She had them smiling and responding within seconds.

The demo had huge impact, especially the powerful punches and kicks dealt out by the black belts. There were oohs and ahs,  and I think children and parents alike were inspired. Ayesha made the point that "dynamite comes in small packages", and that, even if you are small, or a girl, you CAN defend yourself. She also told the kids that everyone who joins her class has to make a "pinky promise" that they will not use what they learn to bully others!

After the demo, kids lined up for cake and snacks at one table, and the parents at another (this for the benefit of the kids). The tables were groaning under the weight of countless sandwiches, wors rolls, hot cross buns, muffins, cake, savouries... nobody went hungry and at the end of it, there were not so much as a half a cup cake left over! In addition, each parent went home with a bag or two of best quality Woolworths vegetables and bread rolls!

We signed up about 35 kids, and start the self defence lessons next month. The kids I spoke to are looking forward to it, and a number of the parents spoke to Ayesha afterwards.

Ayesha and I would like to thank:

The kids from Van Rensburg and Midgely Dojo, who gave us such an awesome show:

Jean Bollweg, Shane Marx, Natalie Morris (1st Dan), Bianca Szmetana (Red Belt) Lilian Bester (4th Kyu (purple)), Chanet and Shayne Kromberg (Blue Belt) and Ronan Szmetana (Green Belt)

Woolworths, Fountainebleau, for their enormous food contribution

My parents, for driving around on my behalf and labouring over boxes and boxes of food, and especially my tireless Mom for her wonderful baking and hundreds of sandwiches

Marilu and the volunteers at Teddy Bear Clinic for their kind assistance

..And YOU, for giving us the kick-start to get Kidz Power going and to be able to afford putting on such a party!