Project overview
FairFight opened the Zimbabwe project site in January 2015, in partnership with Nagle House Girls’ School and the Kofukan Karate Association in Zimbabwe. Shitoryu karate classes are held at Nagle House three times a week by Sensei Gerald and Senpai Prichard, and the girls take part in gradings and competitions regularly. The most senior students currently have blue belts.
Number of Girls |
20 girls |
Local Trainer |
Gerald Muusha (4th Dan) Prichard Zishumba (1st Kyu) |
Local Partner |
Nagle House Girls High |
Martial Art |
Shitoryu Karate |
The girls in Zimbabwe come from the local townships, which are areas of great economic deprivation, especially in the current economic crisis in Zimbabwe. They train in a disused squash court at Nagle House, with karate-gis and tatamis donated by FairFight. With the support of FairFight, they are able to attend three local competitions per year, and once a year, the best girls are invited to an international tournament in the Southern African region. Over the years, the girls have brought home numerous gold, silver and bronze medals from these tournaments, and have developed a sisterhood around their karate practice. FairFight has been providing participatory workshops to the girls’ teachers and families to help break taboos on women in martial arts in the community. The next step for this project is to provide individualized mentorship for the girls.
Success Stories: Tinashe Munemo
Tinashe Munemo was 17 when she joined the FairFight programme in her final year of high school at Nagle House in Marondera, Zimbabwe. Although other girls had been a part of the programme for longer, Tinashe quickly rose to the top of the class, taking home a gold medal in kumite in her first competition, as a white belt. She was elected team captain in her first year of training, until her graduation from Nagle House in 2017.
Initially, things were very difficult for Tinashe after High School: her father suddenly abandoned her family and cut them off financially despite her mother being sick, so she worked odd jobs to make ends meet and keep a roof over their heads. Determined to pursue her education, she enrolled at the University of Zimbabwe for a degree in Public Administration. She knew that she could not afford university studies, but she went for it anyway, and worked every hour that she was not in class to build up the money needed for her fees. After one semester, she failed many of her modules because she could not study and work at the same time. She contacted FairFight, and even though our programme officially ends after High School, we decided to keep supporting her, and helped her to use her creative talents to raise funds for her education. As a result, she was able to pass her classes, return to karate training, grade for her blue belt, compete nationally and internationally, and she has now decided to give back to her community by starting a women’s health programme for orphans and women’s prisons. She also mentors younger FairFight girls.
Initially, things were very difficult for Tinashe after High School: her father suddenly abandoned her family and cut them off financially despite her mother being sick, so she worked odd jobs to make ends meet and keep a roof over their heads. Determined to pursue her education, she enrolled at the University of Zimbabwe for a degree in Public Administration. She knew that she could not afford university studies, but she went for it anyway, and worked every hour that she was not in class to build up the money needed for her fees. After one semester, she failed many of her modules because she could not study and work at the same time. She contacted FairFight, and even though our programme officially ends after High School, we decided to keep supporting her, and helped her to use her creative talents to raise funds for her education. As a result, she was able to pass her classes, return to karate training, grade for her blue belt, compete nationally and internationally, and she has now decided to give back to her community by starting a women’s health programme for orphans and women’s prisons. She also mentors younger FairFight girls.
The Girls
Here are some of the regular FairFight students from Nagle House. These are the girls who grade and come to competitions.
Pictures by ©Myrthe Minnaert
Pictures by ©Myrthe Minnaert
