It used to be called Union Taekwondo-Club, and concentrated on teaching self-defense to young people. Now, Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) is giving it full responsibility for running their program against gender based violence in Ethiopia, and helping in the transformation into an NGO called Hibir- Amharic for Harmony.
By Tormod Nuland.
21/02/2008 ::
- I’ve seen it on TV. All the violence against women, it seems like nobody can stop it. So I started thinking how our club could contribute besides self defense.
His name is Mengistu, but usually people call him Master Mengistu. And Master he is indeed, this gentleman has a black belt in Taekwondo. Educated by Koreans, he has been running a training center at Bole Community College, where students and pupils have been educated in this noble art of self defense.
People might think that self-defense is about aggressiveness. But when Master Mengistu talks about it, it involves other things than drop-kicking and throwing people to the ground. There is also an important aspect of conflict resolution and self assertiveness, which is achieved through the self confidence you get from knowing Taekwondo.
With this background, and a genuine feeling of resentment against the treatment of women in his society, Master Mengistu and his club went forth and conducted a survey on the prevalence of violence among students in three high schools. Of the people who responded, 18 per cent had faced physical violence, while 8 per cent had been raped.
The next step in contributing to fighting violence against women was to approach TTTM, the organization running the only shelter for abused women in Ethiopia. Self defense training was offered to the residents as well as staff. 22 participants graduated with a yellow belt in Taekwondo.
From then on, the “snowball started rolling”. TTTM was already involved in NPA’s pilot program against gender based violence, and the training was offered to women from St.Marry Community centre and Vecod (Vision Ethiopian Congress for Democracy).
After finishing the pilot project, NPA has now decided to gather the responsibilities of running the “Violence against women” at one level, and turn Union Taekwondo Club into an NGO for this purpose.
“The Taekwondo Union is an exellent starting point for making a real difference in people's lives. They work with young people, girls as well as boys, and through self defence classes they can change attitudes and experience. Also, the staff is committed to fighting gender based violence. They have a good potential for becoming a an important NGO who can help stop the violence, " says Mrs. Kjersti Berre, Resident Representative of NPA in Ethiopia.
Master Mengistu has decided to call the NGO Hibir, which means Harmony in Amharic.
- What we will do is essentially something that is involving the human being in harmony, both spiritually and physically. We teach about gender and life skills to the women, which is for the mind, to give them knowledge about their rights. Then we do self-defense, which is for the body. Violent people are just flesh and blood. If we can give the participants their wisdom, they can know how to defend themselves, and be able to solve conflicts with their increased self-security.
Master Mengistu is proud to continue his work to fight violence against women. This is an important male contribution in this struggle. Many in Ethiopia regard women as inferior, but that is not Master Mengistus view:
- I do not believe in this. It is not what my society taught me!