Hi All,

Thanks to all of you who participated in the Palm Stick Seminar we held at the end of May. Your donations to All Hands Volunteers, whom our student was working with, were able to help the victims of Fiji’s crisis in so many ways. Here is a short video of their efforts:

And some words from our old student himself:
“I spent nine weeks there, and in that time we provided hand-washing facilities to over 485 people and working toilets to over 1075 people. My team and I also worked on building shower blocks to cater for vulnerable people within the community, so that they could have a private and safe place to bath. Up until that point, many would either avoid bathing, go to rivers, or bath with clothing on. In the wake of the cyclone, there were some reports of women being assaulted, so meeting this need was and is quite important in reducing the risk of this happening.

Another part of what we did was to build capacity within the local community. One way we do this by working with and upskilling our local volunteer’s construction knowledge to build back better, so that when our project winds up, they will have skills, experience and abilities that will benefit them and their community.

The Fijian people that I worked alongside and for are strong and resilient. They are motivated and focused on rebuilding their homes, crops and communities, and we regularly had a great deal of community support on our build sites. For the most part, what they lack is materials which are still hard to acquire because most need to be imported from NZ or Australia. Nonetheless, their ability to stay positive, and their hospitality in the aftermath of the most damaging cyclone in the regions history is simply amazing. The first toilet I constructed was for a lady named Paulina. She had three children and had managed to rebuild a tin single room structure from salvaged materials collected after the cyclone swept through. When we finished building her toilet she invited us in for hot tea, and some breakfast biscuits. She shared what little she had, and I was really moved by that.

Thank you for your part in making that happen. You stepped up, showed support and proved that we can see beyond our own backyard, that good can be done, and people’s lives can be improved when we work together.”

Kung Fu is not only about self-defense; it’s about helping others as well…

Thank you all for your support and generosity of spirit – you are a credit to the Academy!