As a second-degree black belt and an International Global Studies major with a Global Gender and Sexuality concentration, I am interested in exploring how martial arts have the power to transform lives through empowerment and community-building. This past fall, that passion carried me over 9,000 miles to Port Elizabeth, South Africa, where I volunteered with I Protect Me (IPM), an organization dedicated to preventing domestic violence, sexual assault, femicide and teen pregnancy.
I Protect Me is a lifeline for communities grappling with systemic problems such as poverty and endemic violence. The organization not only provides crucial education and support services, but also creates meaningful employment opportunities that help break cycles of poverty and abuse. While the challenges facing communities in Port Elizabeth are significant — among young South Africans aged 15 to 34 the unemployment rate is 45.5% — IPM's holistic approach, combining practical skills training, violence prevention education and victim support networks, fosters positive change. With only two semesters left, I have begun to consider my post-grad plans, and after my experience in South Africa, my goal is to work for a non-profit organization focussed on preventing gender-based violence by working with local leaders in vulnerable communities.
To my fellow students: Our education is more than a degree. It is a tool for global understanding. We must look beyond the borders of our campus, recognizing that meaningful change happens through consistent, compassionate engagement with communities working towards equality.
IPM encourages resilience in the face of adversity, and Tyronese, one of the first friends I made in South Africa, embodies that spirit. Orphaned as a teenager, she became the guardian of her three younger brothers, sacrificing her own university dreams to be their caretaker. After enduring an abusive marriage and unimaginable personal loss, she found strength through IPM. Today, she is a leader within the organization, where she manages nearly 50 provincial employees and has even started her own event company.
Despite meeting inspiring young leaders like Tyronese, at times it was scary to live in Port Elizabeth. During my first week, five gunmen robbed a nearby elementary school, traumatizing children who were simply trying to learn. I will never forget the night my friends were sending rapid fire texts in our group chat about reuniting at Middlebury for the fall semester while I was hiding in my room because I heard gunshots. I later found out that two people had been murdered a block away. Soon afterwords, a student who attended the university just down the road from where I worked was raped walking home from school. The dissonance between my friends' updates from Middlebury and my new reality was striking. These incidents and Tyronese's own story were stark reminders of the complex realities facing communities like Port Elizabeth.
While in South Africa, I often pictured myself as a student there, and I imagine it would be very difficult to focus on studying with constant threats of violence. Middlebury provides a relatively protected environment that largely ensures that our learning goes uninterrupted — I don’t have to be afraid or overly cautious walking to my daily classes. However, our privilege is not just about our physical safety, but also about the opportunity to critically examine and challenge these underlying structures.
But for every moment of fear, there were moments of pure joy. I'll never forget the elementary school classrooms where children lined up for hugs, eager to ask if I’d ever been to Starbucks and Target. And when two little girls told me I looked like Sabrina Carpenter, I couldn’t help but giggle along with them. When I taught self-defense, I saw true transformation. Children and IPM employees alike left classes feeling physically stronger, less fearful and eager to learn more.
My primary goals for my time in Port Elizabeth were to learn from IPM and the expertise of its employees and to integrate a sustainable self-defense curriculum into their programs. To support the training I provided in person, I created instructional videos and a self-defense manual that IPM employees can refer to at any time so that they can continue to teach effective self-defense in classrooms. IPM also plans on sending these videos and this manual to similar organizations in other African countries such as Nigeria.
This experience was more than volunteer work—it was a profound lesson in community resilience, the importance of grassroots organizations and the ongoing global fight against gender-based violence. As I complete my studies at Middlebury, I'm committed to continuing this work, inspired by the incredible individuals I met through IPM. My journey underscores the vital message to my fellow students: our education is not confined to campus walls, but a powerful catalyst for global understanding and meaningful change.
