OBV Board Member Response: "Plse plan on teaching KM"

As the title suggests, we got another positive update from OBV today: A board member gave the go-ahead for us to teach Krav Maga. This is exciting news, but it's also very sobering. Both the OBV board and our head KM instructor understand something about this situation that Thuy and I will soon come to learn first hand. We're going to be interacting with young women who have been tremendously traumatized, many, if not all of them, during the formative years of their lives. We acknowledge that we won't know what we're walking into until we get there and build relationships, and hopefully trust, with the young women.

I'll have to figure out a suitable training regimen that meets their needs and keeps to the KM standard of training, while at the same time tailor it to be sensitive to their experiences and target the development of their self confidence.

Between now and the trip, I figured I'll be better served by talking to people around town who have experience working in similar capacities. A former classmate's wife had brief experience teaching a self defense class in the rough part of Philadelphia, and she expressed a willingness to share her insights. That'll definitely come in handy. On the teaching front, our head instructor was kind enough to offer to help me improve my teaching ability through more exposure to co-teaching and by shadowing him during his classes.

This is going to be a good experience for everyone involved.