Karate is going to Stick, and Friendship

As we prepared for the arrival of Master Ignéty Ba's Senseis to lead The Big Class Friday morning, Soulaymane taught Robbie how to brew ataya, a Senegalese sweet  mint green tea. They served it to Rowan and I as we helped the kids into their gis.

We used every available gi, again. The talibés love the karate lessons, and wearing the gi clearly gives them a sense of pride and achievement. Only a few children were too shy to line up to request a gi. Robbie and I organized the talibés into lines and after warming the kids up, Robbie invited the three visiting Senseis to lead the class. They soon divided the children into three smaller groups to work with them at their level of competence, just as we are familiar with at Robbie's dojo, Douvris.

The ability of the talibés to absorb the lessons and mimic their instructors is astonishing, for children

who live on the streets without parents, have no formal schooling, and are generally quite wild and undisciplined. At some level these children must crave structure and direction, because they respond to their karate teachers like star pupils. Even with Robbie, despite sharing barely a world of language in common, they followed his every instruction diligently, many wearing giant smiles. And, they so clearly are conscious that the karate is something special that can help to set them apart, help them to be more.

Sensei Gora Seck spoke to the children about respect. He encouraged them to honour their uniforms as if it were the Senegalese flag. He explained that self respect and the respect of others would soon follow. The senseis will help the children learn that discipline of the mind and the body are equally important for success in life.  Souleymane, who had drawn a pattern on the knee of gi pants, to identify them as his own, was devastated. He later did not stop scrubbing until the last mark was removed. These are lessons not easy to deliver to these children in this place, but with karate to show the way, the talibés of Maison de la Gare will now have better than a fighting chance to learn and integrate them.

Robbie assists and assesses Sensei Gora Seck

Issa Kouyate, director of Maison de la Gare,  was astonished that after just four Big Classes, the kids were so responsive and engaged, not to mention so effectively synchronized! They are happy to be so effectively organized. Issa hopes Master Ba will lead the children in a public demonstration at the main square of Saint Louis for the the National Day of Independence next month. A demo team! Issa intends for the Maison de la Gare karate program to demonstrate to people the potential of the talibés children, to encourage people to see them as more than beggars in the street.

About 12 children have been singled out for potential enrolment at Master Ba's dojo, Charles de

Gaulle. Robbie gave these kids extra training classes Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, to help them prepare for their first trial class at the dojo Saturday night. The boys are very fit, but were not accustomed to such effective cardio training as Robbie asked of them. Nevertheless, each responded with everything he had, determined to grasp the opportunity offered him. The smiles on their sweat-drenched faces when it was over when the fist bumping began said it all. Souleymane repaid Robbie by teaching him his favourite game of marbles. He later presented Robbie with his own set of marbles, likely gifting away one of his only possessions.

Robbie and Souleymane after training

The reality of street life asserted itself again when we arrived at Maison de la Gare at the appointed hour Saturday evening to collect the gis and walk together to The dojo. Several kids (all, of course, living without time to interfere too much in their lives) straggled in late. At 4:55pm we were waiting still for the one boy who had been entrusted with the keys. We were to be at the dojo at 5pm, and the gis were locked away on the other side of the gate. We arrived at the dojo late, after i rushed them all in a convoy of taxis, dressed in gis, and waited to be invited to join the class while Robbie and I explained that at the dojo, timeliness is another way of demonstrating respect. They were the only late arrivals, and I think the point was taken. (This lesson was natural coming from Robbie, who will drop dead of shame if he does not arrive ten minutes early to his dojo, but not so much from me).

The class was great. The dojo's system, and timeline and method of belt promotion seems much as at Douvris in Ottawa. Several black and brown belts were practicing a synchronized routine off to one side. The quality of their performance was fantastic, world class, and I was encouraged. Although Robbie was concerned that not all the Senseis wore full gis, he felt the dojo was a good one, and the instructors and program would be good for the talibés.

 Robbie readied the talibés for class at the dojo.

I was delighted to learn that the price of registering each child at the dojo and covering monthly fees would amount to about $75 per year, $100 if we include the cost of one replacement gi, given the 10 to 15 kids we are considering for the program at the dojo, initially. A much more reasonable cost than I initially expected, that should enable us to register even more talibé kids who become seriously committed to karate.

All interested children will be encouraged to continue to attend the Big Classes three mornings a week at the Maison de la Gare Centre, led by Master Ignéty Ba and his Senseis. We have gis for about 50 kids. Who knew we would have the potential to use even more than that!?

Sensei Gora Seck leads young talibés in The Big Class

The karate program is in place, and I have a high level of confidence that the classes and all the benefits they will bring to the talibés of Maison de la Gare will persist long after our departure from Senegal. Rowan has already earned a place firmly in the hearts of many talibés. Now, Robbie will not soon be forgotten here either.