News from Maison de la Gare
The Gift of Confidence, Discipline and More for the Talibé Children
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Robbie describes the magic of karate for the talibés of Maison de la Gare
Maison de la Gare’s karate program began six years ago, the brain
child of a young Canadian
volunteer and newly minted black belt, Robbie Hughes. Karate was Robbie’s passion, and he
wanted to share it with the children of Maison de la Gare when he visited to volunteer
with his family.
Over the years Robbie has returned many times to Maison de la Gare, to train with the
talibés, expand the karate program, and to identify and register talibé children who were
developing a similar passion for karate and who were ready to advance their skills at the
local dojo. Robbie has become a partner and close friend of Abduramane Buaró, a talibé
youth who has led classes in Maison de la Gare’s center for the younger talibés since 2015.
Buaró is passionate about karate and has himself earned a black belt, a remarkable achievement!
In Robbie’s words: “While the karate program at Maison de la Gare offers strength and
agility development and teaches kids important self-defense skills, its main objective is
to promote and facilitate the discovery of discipline, confidence, leadership and sportsmanship.
In my opinion, the greatest accomplishment of this program at Maison de la Gare is the
ongoing nurturing of discipline. Discipline isn’t only important to karate; it is an
essential factor to learning how to progress regardless of the challenges we face and
to eventually leading a productive and fulfilling life no matter who you are or
where you live.
Discipline unlocks an individual’s ability to be their best self. It teaches how to get
things done, and how to have the courage to move forward when life is hard. Sometimes
there are days when I don’t feel like getting out of bed at 6:00 am to do a workout, or
going to work after a full day of classes. But years of karate training and the example
of my senseis give me the discipline to do what needs to be done. We all have hills we
need to climb from time to time. But the talibés have mountains to climb each and every
day. They leave their daaras before the sun rises. They spend hours each day begging on
their own on the streets. They do not have parents or teachers to encourage or lead
them and they never have enough to eat. They return to
their daaras in the dark with
grumbling stomachs, not to beds, loving parents and a hot meal, but to a cold floor and
a hand held out to receive their begging quotas. Mountains. Every day.
When you give someone the opportunity to pursue and learn difficult things, they can
learn something unique about themselves from accomplishment as well as failure. They
can learn that they have the ability inside of themselves to overcome the hard and
seemingly impossible challenges in life. The talibés face such challenges every day
of their lives. Overcoming challenge and learning skills also
gives a person the
opportunity to become proud of themselves. As it has been for me, for many of Maison
de la Gare’s karate kids martial arts has been the catalyst for a deeper realization
of their individual ability, self-worth and understanding of the discipline needed to
overcome life’s challenges.”
Your donations in support of Maison de la Gare and the karate program allow the talibés
who have grown to love karate the ability to continue to practice the sport and to
continue to grow in their independence, confidence, and skill. They offer the gift of
martial arts to more talibés, and give them more opportunities to feel seen and
supported by the world. More opportunity to learn confidence and discipline. And, more
opportunity for them to shine and be celebrated as individuals, to become heroes and
role models to other talibé children.
