Catie Fowler
ED 3 - Rubavu District, Western Province
When I was growing up, my best friend got her black belt in Tae Kwon Do and it was not only a turning point in her life, but also in mine. Insanely jealous, I asked my parents to sign me up for classes and worked for six years to get a black belt of my own. Martial arts helped me to get in the best shape of my life, but it also shaped me as a person. It gave me a huge boost not only to my work ethic and discipline, but also to my self-esteem.
I arrived at site with the vague idea
that it would be fun to teach some sort of women's health or
self-defense class, but the idea never really came into action. I
didn't really have a good structure in place and I wasn't sure how
well the men in my community would respond to the idea. I didn't
want to give them the impression that I was training women to become
violent. I stuck to teaching a couple of short self-defense classes
in camps GLOW and BE and didn't really expect to take it anywhere
from there.
A couple of months ago though, the
unexpected took place in my village in the form of the Rubavu Kung Fu
association. As a new club started forming in my community, I didn't
really know exactly how I would get involved. I was invited to my
sector's first promotion ceremony, but didn't think much of it
because being invited to ceremonies comes pretty standard in the life
of a Peace Corps Volunteer. However, it was at this ceremony that I
realized just how deeply involved the association really wanted me to
be. The master from Gisenyi gave a speech about gender equality and
explained that Kung Fu wasn't only a sport for boys, but also for
girls, making a point to invite all of them to study. It was later
explained to me that I was supposed to join the association to help
recruiting girls to practice and to teach was well. I was completely
on the spot and out of my comfort zone, but it was impossible to turn
down the opportunity. I was basically given the position of
spokesperson for gender equality and female empowerment via Kung Fu
and it wasn't even my idea, but the mens' idea. If gender balance is
really going to work, it has to be supported by everyone, not only
one of the sexes.
Involving girls in this sport has come
with mixed results. On the one
hand, my Sifu (instructor) has asked me to invite girls to the sport
and to try to promote gender equality in my community. On the other,
he also referred to me as the King Girl with the intention that I
would be the primary teacher for female students, meaning that we
would also be separate. I was thrilled when we went to a local
school to get new students involved and ended up with a list of girls
in the double digits...and ecstatic when the boys in the club
promptly informed the headmaster that it would absolutely not be
important to have two lists because boys and girls would study
together. On some days, I have seen swarms of girls flood the
basketball courts after school to study, on others I'm the only one
present. There are however, two girls in particular that are really
sticking with it, both of whom are up for promotion to red belt at
the next test.
I
never really thought I would have the chance to study martial arts in
Rwanda and I certainly never thought Rwandans would be so open to
gender balance so I think the two combined are a pretty good
indication that times are changing in Rwanda. I get a kick out of
the kids that try to imitate my Kung Fu in the streets when they see
me and the old men that greet me as Sifu in the street. I love that
I not only know strong and athletic girls who are willing to study
Kung Fu, but also that there is a strong community of men in place to
support them in doing so. The best part is every Peace Corps
volunteers' dream. Because this idea didn't come from me, not only
did I feel like I was pushing it on my community, but I also know
that it will continue after I am gone. I just get to have the good
fortune of being in the right place at the right time as Rwanda moved
towards having a more balanced society.
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