Island Karate

 “Ku-Sho-Dan!” We shout as we stand in the ready position for the first “kata”.  Then, in unison, we move gracefully through a series of steps, punches and blocks.  Next, our teacher pulls out a punching pad and we all line up to punch and kick the pads as hard as we can.  The kids and I are doing karate!  It’s a lot of fun. 

Practicing at home

We’ve been at it for almost two year now. And I think we’re getting pretty good—at least at katas. Our teacher looks on quite pleased.  “Sensei Brucelee” is a wiry, athlete who appears to be made of muscle and rock.  We think he’s in his sixties, but he moves like a much younger man and his passion is karate.  He doesn’t talk a whole lot.  As near as we can tell, he was trained by Japanese visitors with whom he had very little language in common, and so he has learned to teach karate in the same way.  Most of his instruction is wordless, made with gestures and alternating between correct form and incorrect form.  

His “dojo” is a simple room with concrete floors that is used for other purposes and is rarely swept or mopped. All it takes is a little karate and we have “karate feet”! But that doesn’t mean rock-hard feet that can crash through walls, it’s actually the black color the bottoms of our feet get from being barefoot on the dirty floor.  

So it isn’t the ideal context for learning karate. With concrete floors and no mats, we don’t do any take downs or falls. Sensei Brucelee is meagerly supplied with only a few punching pads, but he is so eager to teach what he can. He hasn’t even asked for a cent all these months, he just loves to teach, welcoming to anyone who comes in.

Its funny the things that get popular in a small secluded island nation, but martial arts are actually a pretty popular sport.  I wonder if it is connected to the fact that you really don’t need much in terms of materials.  Go to the beach on a weekend and you’ll probably see someone doing some kind of marital arts move (sand works well in lieu of mats).  I have been surprised to learn just how many of the men I know have, at some point in their life, studied martial arts.  

For example, we’re on the beach at a picnic, and unfortunately no one thought to bring a ball, frisbee, anything.  So I ask if anyone knows karate.  Soon enough I’ve got a couple of guys who have done it before showing me their moves. 

Sensei Brucelee works with our sons

“Go ahead, punch me,” my new found friend says, so I give him a nice easy jab toward the stomach. Before I know it he has flipped me onto my back and I am staring up at the blue sky with sand in my hair.  I’m not used to actually being flipped, since we don’t practice with mats, so I definitely appreciated the soft sand (although it could have been a little softer).

I have another set of friends who have taken to making martial arts videos.  They post them on facebook.  The story line might be thin, and the footage a bit amateur, but the karate looks pretty impressive.

So, we’re not at the “our hands are lethal weapons” or “make a martial arts movie” stage yet, but we’re getting pretty good.  It’s good exercise, helps us to connect with some people, and gets the kids some extra-curricular opportunities (which are few and far between on the islands). We have so much fun that we’ve managed to convince most of our team to join us! 

At the beginning of our karate adventure (end of 2018)

So now, it’s not just the kids, but 5 adults, punching, kicking and yelling “HA” at appropriate moments.  I’m not sure what it will all amount to, but we’re in better shape, more flexible, and maybe slightly more dangerous than we were before.  

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our daughter was able to go to the big island this weekend to visit one of her best friends and practice some independence (it was her first time traveling alone). She has had a good trip and comes home tomorrow. Our teammate (currently in the UK) was able to get a quick repeat COVID test and was released from quarantine.  The new pair of men Tom is meeting with have had a couple of good meetings, lots of thoughtful answers and good engagement.  May it continue.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
This week there is a big religious holiday on Wednesday. This holiday isn’t celebrated as much on our island as it is in other countries, but pray that it will lead to good conversations and opportunities to share. Tom’s friend Fakhadi plans on taking Tom and our short-termer to visit his family on the holiday and has invited our whole family for dinner over the weekend. Pray that these overtures would lead to a deepening relationship and more opportunities with Fakhadi’s whole family. Pray for our short-termer— he has one more week on our island. Pray that he’d get opportunities to share with those he has gotten close to and that God would be clearly guiding his future. Pray for two our former teammates: first our teammates on the French Island are expecting a son in September and she has been put on bedrest— pray that the rest of the pregnancy would be smooth and that the baby would get into the right position and wait until after 37 weeks to be born. Pray also for our old teammates from our Chad days— one of whom has heard that a mole she had had removed is melanoma— pray for peace and healing as they wait to learn what stage it is and what the treatment will look like.