The Master Class
Above is a random street scene. Note the building on the right is unfinished. This is common. Mortgages and building loans are hard to get, especially personal ones. The lower floors are occupied. The upper floors will (possibly) be completed when the owner gets the money.
Below is the Kibera slum, in Nairobi. It has a few million people living in it. It is the largest slum in Africa. Individual homes may have minimal electric, mostly from small solar panels used to power a light bulb and phone chargers. Water is from a community well, carried to the homes in jugs. The homes are typically one or two small rooms, with cooking done over charcoal outside.
The slums tend to be dangerous. Robbery, rape, assault, and theft are most common. Although we haven’t been to Kibera, my team and I work in the slums pretty frequently, or in the schools where the girls from the slums live.
Above is another random street scene in Nairobi on our way to our class.
This day we were headed to the outskirts of a different Nairobi slum, Mathare. We are going to the Mathare Youth Sports Organization facility. We have two classes arranged on consecutive days.
They have two soccer (football) fields: a full-sized pitch and a smaller one for 5 on 5 or 7 on 7 games. The smaller one, below has Astroturf and was built by FIFA after the World Cup was held in Africa.
We were given a tour of the facility by Edwin, the director. He said that most of the players on the Kenya national football teams come through this facility.
We were shown to the barn-like building where our classes were. After a while, about 16 tired women in cleats and football kit came in. They are the Mathare United women’s professional football team. They had just finished practice.
They kicked off their cleats and sat around the walls. They reluctantly gathered in the middle of the floor when I called them together, not knowing what they were there for, other than being told to go by someone else who didn’t really know why we were there.
I started explaining the class and what we would do. They started coming to life. As we got into the class, they became very engaged and eager to work.
Below is Wangari with the class. Below that we are teaching about some pressure points for less violent techniques than most that we do. If they just need to get a drunk out of their grille, they don’t necessarily have to take out his eyes or knee.
You’ll notice in some of the shots, the women are sitting. I made an exception for this group. We usually stand. But I’m not usually dealing with a group of professional athletes who just finished multiple hours of practice.
Above, I’m showing the team the keychain techniques. They were gathered very tightly around me, as it was pouring rain and we were in a barn with a metal roof. It was deafening. Often too loud to talk at all.
We actually had the Mathare United team for both days we were there. So I got about 4 hours with them. This surprised me, as I don’t usually get the same people 2 days in a row.
I especially have never had a group this athletic and coordinated. They were trying to modify techniques on the fly. They were extremely engaged and truly enjoyed the class, even if they were exhausted, telling Edwin they had learned a lot.
As with any pro sports team, there are some team leaders. It was pretty clear who they were on this team. They also stepped up and were pushing the action with the other women.
Having 2 days was also fun. My standard curriculum is for one day. Overnight, we had to come up with a second day’s worth. As I said to the women, they were getting the Master Class.
Since I was pulling together the techniques for the second day, my team wasn’t familiar with them. They were often more students than teachers. It was fun for them too, as they learned a lot.
Below, I’m working on a gun technique with a woman. I don’t often do these, as 1) guns are uncommon in Kenya, and 2) they take a lot more practice than we had time for to really get them right. But they asked about weapon defenses so I spent a few minutes on it. The more common weapons are clubs or knives.
The classes with Mathare United were really fun. It was very different for us, as well. As is often the case, we were invited back by several of the players.
You can see in the shot below, there is a guy practicing martial arts in the background. As a fellow martial artist, and he was minding his own business, I let him stay. After a while several other guys started coming in and just standing and watching, even though I’d told Edwin twice not to let guys in. Eventually I had to kick them out.
