Tae Kwon Do & Peacebuilding

I’ve been given the opportunity to be the Shinnyo-En Fellow for the 2013-2014 academic year. The purpose of the fellowship is to “enhance one’s understanding of how to contribute to the health of an identified community, develop the knowledge and skills necessary to become transformative community leaders, and increase one’s ability to engage in reflection”  This reflection is also speaks to fellows sense of nurturing “an awareness of how their inner and outer paths contribute to justice and peacebuilding”.

I’ll be taking on the issue of anti-human trafficking for my Shinnyo-en Fellowship. One of the things i want to accomplish through this is to further solidify the overarching anti-human trafficking movement while assisting the existing organizations and resources available to survivors of human trafficking.

Another thing I want to accomplish through this fellowship speaks directly to the nurturing of my inner and outer paths to peacebuilding.

Tae Kwon Do has been one of the few constants in my life. It’s taken me a while to realize this, but as cheesy as it sounds, the tenants (courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-confidence, and indomnible spirit) that Tae Kwon Do schools drill you really are applicable both inside and outside martial arts.
I’ve been presented an opportunity to facilitate a Tae Kwon Do PE class to formerly incarcerated girls who are also survivors of CSEC (commercial sexually exploited children).

I hope that as Tae Kwon Do was able to give me a healthy outlet and a more positive outlook and structure in my life, I’d be able to be of some resource for recovery in their lives.