Caroline Tolo had just graduated from high school; she was at home bored and desperate to lose weight. She weighed 75kg, and was too heavy for her frame. She went to a gym in her home town of Kisumu and took up boxing because it was sporty and more challenging than the conventional aerobics.
While at the gym, she saw something that seemed a lot more interesting than the boxing she was taking up: Karate.
“I would watch the people on the Karate side and admire their moves; I wanted to know how to do that,” Caroline recalls.
Six months later and several kilos lighter, she gave Karate a shot; she was the only woman amongst 20 men learning the sport, and her coach encouraged her to take up competitive Karate; she has never looked back.
Caroline is now one of Kenya’s few female Karate Black Belts; she has represented Kenya in numerous tournaments and served as the 2011 Captain for the Kenya National Karate team, and was a 2009 Sports Woman of the Year nominee.
After 10 years in competitive Karate, she decided to take up coaching. She now teaches between 50 and 100 children weekly, from as young as five years.
She has also worked as a personal training and fitness coach, but was drawn to offering self-defence classes after one of her students, a 20-year-old, was raped on her way home. Caroline has developed a self-defence curriculum for over 10 schools across the city.
She also offers girls in slums such as Kibra, Kariobangi and Korogocho free classes in self-defence. She is in the process of starting a similar program in Kawangware.
“Most women only take self-defence classes after they are raped or molested. This needs to change, you should be your own custodian, you owe it to yourself to protect yourself.”
There are 10 stages of Black Belts. In tournaments, Karate is played by age for children, while adults fight in weight categories. Caroline is an under 68kg weight category. She is a 2nd Dan Black Belt (Second Level of Black Belt) which took her six years to attain.
Yes, especially in self-defence. At times I am overwhelmed by the demands I get from parents.
For Karate as a sport, the children are from age five – at this age, they are keen to try out the moves they have learnt, so I have to constantly remind them not to try out what they learn on their friends and family because they could hurt them.
As for self-defence, it is not a sport; it is a technique to protect yourself. I teach girls from the age of 11. At this age there is a sense of maturity and understanding of what they are doing and the repercussions this has if used as a joke, as opposed to fend off an attacker. I teach the girls to use the skills they have learnt as a last resort, only when someone tries to harm them.
Yes, I created a curriculum for children in over 10 schools. It runs for 12 weeks throughout the term. At the end of each term, every child has studied my self-defence curriculum should know the basic techniques of self-defence. I teach seven days a week. Each session lasts an hour.
It covers situational awareness, teaching people to be aware of their environment, general avoidance of being caught in a dangerous situation, and basic defence techniques.
Yes, while I was still in competitive Karate. It was in 2011, and I was in Mozambique for a tournament. A colleague and I had left our hotel for a night out in the town. On the way back, two men attempted to mug us, they first targeted my male colleague, probably assuming that I wasn’t a threat. In a few seconds, both assailants were on the ground.
Karate is an international sport, there are rules and regulations, for instance, you are not allowed to hit hard or hurt your opponent. As for self-defence, it’s your life at stake, there are no rules, you are fighting to protect yourself, to stay alive, so by all means hit hard and hurt your attacker.
Over 1,000. I get great satisfaction when my young students come up to me and recount how they managed to fend off an attack. At times, I am overwhelmed by the demand, but I am passionate about what I do, and so I give it my all. I offer my services for free in the slums, it is my way of giving back to the community.
A couple of years ago, one of my students, I was a personal fitness trainer then, opened up to me and told me that she had been raped. I was so shocked, I did not know how to react. It is then that it occurred to me that most women don’t learn self-defence.
That is how this idea came about. If it were up to me, every school would have a self-defence class slotted in its time table. The basic knowledge about how to avoid potential dangerous situations, or the basic parts of the body to hit in case of an attack, could just save your life.
Yes, I work with three other instructors certified by the Kenya Karate Federation, and pay them per session.
Word of mouth mostly. I also have a website, www.selfdefense.co.ke where those interested can get more information. I also go door-to-door seeking -clientele. Personal touch wins over clients.
They just need to express interest and provide a list of signed up children. For Karate, I charge Sh6,000 per student, per term in school. For private lessons, the cost ranges from Sh3,500 per month, per child.
For self-defence classes, it costs Sh5,000 per child per month, with two classes per week. These costs are not cast in stone though.
The origins of Karate can be traced back to the Okinawan Islands of Japan. It was developed as a form of self-defence by the local inhabitants of the island when the dynastic ruler, King Shoha, unified the region after decades of warfare and issued an edict banning the possession of weapons on the island – that was about 500 years ago.
It began as te (hand), a fighting style used by the natives of the Ryukyu Islands, and was later influenced by Chinese kenpô, introduced through the Chinese families that settled in Okinawa after trade relationships between China and the islands were established.
From three Okinawan cities (Shuri, Naha, Tomari), each closely spaced but with very different societal demands, three separate styles emerged:
Collectively, these styles were called Okinawa-te or tode (Chinese hand), and over time, the styles merged slightly to become just two.
Due to increasing Japanese influence, the label of ‘te’ was eventually lengthened to karate-jutsu (Chinese hand art). It then changed to karate-do. Karate-do translates into “the way of the empty hand.”
The Okinawan Karate master, Funakoshi Gichin, introduced the way of Karate-jutsu to Japan, where it spread across the country. By 1949, his followers had established an association for the promotion of Karate; they called it Nihon Karate Kyokai, or Japan Karate Association.
Very little is known of the exact origins of Karate before it appeared in Okinawa, but one popular theory says that it came from India over a thousand years ago, brought to China by a Buddhist monk called Bodhidarma (“daruma” in Japanese).
As legend describes it, Bodhidarma arrived in Shaolinsi and began teaching Zen Buddhism as well, a style of temple boxing based on exercises designed to strengthen the mind and body. The historical accuracy of this legend is still a hot issue of debate today.
It was during the American armed forces’ occupation of Japan after World War II that Westerners saw Karate-do for the first time. It fascinated the American service men so much, they decided to learn from the Japanese. And so these US servicemen became early members of Japanese Karate-do.
With Japanese and American trade expanding rapidly after the war, many senior Japanese karate-ka (one who practices karate) visited the United States and some settled there permanently.
Today, Karate-do is taught all over the world, though it is often modified and always changing.
1924: The first university Karate club is established in Japan, at Keio University.
1939: Japan opens Shoto-Kan, its first formal training school.
