12 – Sex Trafficking in India, Broken Education, and Martial Arts Life Skills w/ Mary Stevens

Southpaw

This is probably our most serious and important episode as we discuss Fair Fight with martial arts instructor Mary Stevens. Fair Fight is an organization that empowers and educates vulnerable girls in India, many of whom have been rescued from child prostitution. We also discuss the broken educational system in the US and UK. Then Mary explains to us what she considers to be a well-rounded martial artist—not only someone who can defend themselves, but also someone who works hard at school, has knowledge of law, first aid, nutrition & health, survival skills, teaching skills, and empathy. Much of martial arts centers around the individual but a true martial artist should be committed to society. Then we get into Mary's upcoming martial arts children's books (rather than martial arts tournament based Lord of the Flies, it's about working together as a group).

If you'd like to support some of these causes or get more information, here are some helpful links:

actandhelp.org

fairfight.nl

Read Mary's project blog here: fairfightvaranasi.wordpress.com

You can find more about Mary and her karate school at schoolofmartialarts.com