a mid-way review of India 2018

​The FairFight team has been in Varanasi for a week: that means they have reached the mid-point milestone in this year’s impact visit. Floris, Heifara and Devesh had agreed to a schedule and plan before the volunteers arrived, but two days after the start of the trip, Myrthe and Floris both fell ill with food poisoning and the plan had to be reviewed. Floris jokes about this:
 
“As a project coordinator the schedule is my responsibility, and adapting/confirming things on the fly has been the most work here. Most telling maybe was the singular comment Heifara had on the schedule before we arrived: "it's a great schedule, but keep in mind it is India." Her words rang true as we had to adapt to changed circumstances and spontaneous things throughout the week, but all changes turned out well!” - Floris

The whole FairFight team at breakfast

Encounters at disha

The first week has been mainly spent getting to know the girls at Disha both personally and as martial artists. Half of the Disha girls were missing in the early days of the visit due to an unexpected delay in the start of the school year, so the first couple of trainings took place in a cozy setting with almost one teacher for each girl! Skipping ropes were a big hit, breaking the ice between our senseis and the girls. The rest girls returned on Thursday, just as Floris and Myrthe recovered from their illness, and the project was able to go ahead full swing. For Katie, taking the time to get to know the girls and understand their needs and aspirations was paramount:
 
“For me it was establishing a relationship with the girls to gauge their martial arts understanding and to help motivate them to understand the deeper benefits if martial arts. It seems that at the moment although there is some understanding that "kittens need to switch on their inner tiger "  there’s little or no connection to the wider principles of martial arts. The reaction we have had to the skipping ropes and the way the girls take instruction is positive and promising for future learning- spending Friday and the weekend doing art and kites is establishing this positive relationship where we are hoping to further discuss what strength is and to inspire these girls particularly the older ones to be an example to one another by using these values.” – Katie

Kajal with her skipping rope

It seems that FairFight still has a lot of work to do to help the girls go from the practice of martial arts as a sport to the living ethos of Budo. This impression was shared by Myrthe, the only non-martial artist of the groups, whose mission it is to provide us with a comprehensive report on the impact and diffusion of Budo (empowerment) principles within our project. It seems Myrthe’s research will yield very important results for FairFight:
 
“Of course I knew I was going to spend two weeks researching martial arts while being part of a team of martial artists, but that doesn't mean I had realised that this would mean two weeks of martial arts talk. Wherever we are, whatever we are doing, there is always a chance that one of them will jump into a martial arts stance and show how to do a certain punch, kick or other technique. I admire the passion and confidence with which this is done, whether it is on our rooftop or in a busy restaurant, they don't seem to be bothered by the staring faces around them. This first week we have come to realise that it is still a long way for the girls to achieve this same mentality, but based on the conversations and shared training sessions with Devesh, the trainer, we also believe that there is a lot of potential for growth in both Devesh and the girls. Creating the ideal climate for this growth, is what we are working on now, we are optimistic.” - Myrthe

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working with local martial artists

The other important goal of this first week was to work with the local martial arts team to understand their perspective on martial arts, the issues they have run into in working with the girls on the FairFight project, and work towards a set of context-appropriate, sustainable solutions. This is no mean feat, but Mary explains that steps are being taken in the right direction:
 
“We arrived with a major challenge on our hands but the team has worked creatively and cohesively to break it down and solve the problems facing this fragile project. On our first week we have developed our understanding of why the classes haven’t been going well and then worked on a strategy to address these issues.   We’re looking forward to implementing this strategy during the second week.” - Mary
 
Heading into the second week, the team is feeling positive, motivated, fit and healthy, and ready for action. For now though, they will be enjoying a weekend of kite-flying for Makar Sankranti. Until next time, thank you for your support!

The FairFight team with the guys and girls from Dragon Martial Arts Academy