from the May, 2013 issue of Kiai!

Erin Epperson Given Peacemaker Award
for Self-Defense Work in India

 

By Erin Epperson, 4th kyu

On May 1st we presented Erin Epperson the Thousand Waves Peacemaker Award to honor her recent work in India— teaching Seido karate to a member of her host family, mentoring the self-defense instructors in the Seido dojo in Delhi, and creating a blog to analyze and discuss ways to respond to the sexual harassment of female international travelers. Read in more detail about her work… in her words.
– Jun Shihan Sarah

I feel incredibly honored to have the opportunity to share this with you all. I was asked to write about the Violence Prevention work I did while I was in India for my dissertation research on Buddhism in literature and Buddhism’s role in the translation of Sanskrit literature into Tibetan. My trip was not an easy one. I encountered many obstacles, only one of which I will share today. This obstacle—which I am still processing through on some level—was a series of intense experiences of street harassment in Sarnath (Varanasi) which left me feeling vulnerable, isolated, and depressed. In October, in response to a shared experience of harassment with two other women, I decided to start a blog addressing harassment issues for female travelers: (http://travelingwhilefemale.blogspot.com). The purpose of this blog is to provide a public resource for female travelers concerned with issues of sexual harassment while traveling, in particular to South Asian countries. Responding to harassment is difficult enough, but how do you handle harassment in a foreign culture?  What are culturally-acceptable ways for women to respond to harassment?  Is cultural sensitivity necessary, or does it enable further gender-based violence? These kinds of questions fueled my writing process as I attempted to provide answers for travelers based on my experiences and the experiences of women who confided in me. For me this work served as an application of the “Tell” finger, enabling me to process my experiences of harassment while helping other women process their own.

I wrote 10 entries over the 6 months I was in India. Some topics include: “Sexual Harassment of White women in India,” A review/critique of  “Travel guidebooks and blogs on sexual harassment,” advice regarding “Openness to Travel and Trusting our Instincts,” an analysis of media coverage of rapes including the West Bengal rapes in November and the so-called “Delhi gang-rape,” and a post attempting to give a response to a question I often receive from female travelers in India:  “Why should women come/return to India” (given risk of harassment or worse).  I’ve recently taken the brave step to share this blog with my academic community as well and am overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from colleagues and professors in my field.

While in India, I also had the opportunity to share some of what I’ve learned as an assistant in Thousand Waves’ Violence Prevention program. While in Sarnath, I trained in Seido regularly on the roof of my family-run guesthouse. One night the youngest daughter (‘Apu’, age 17) asked me to teach her. She said she wanted to learn kicking and punching for her fitness, but when I asked what she wanted to learn from it, she confessed that she wanted to feel stronger and safer. With Senpai Kate’s permission (and encouragement!) for the next week or so, I met with her every night for 30-45 minutes to teach her hand strikes and kicking basics, and work with her on some of our Self-Defense material. I wrote about this experience for the December 2012 issue of Kiai!.

Throughout my travels, whenever I passed through Delhi, I would to train with Seido Noida’s dojo (South Delhi), led by Sensei Rahul Agarwal. I would also spend time with Sensei Rahul, his wife Pooja and their 9-year-old son Rabya, all of whom train in Seido karate. Over the years, they have always welcomed me with sincerity, generosity, openness, and unwavering hospitality both into their dojo and into their home. Through training with Seido Noida, I have formed a deep personal connection with this family. In January, Pooja shared with me the exciting news that she was looking to transition from her previous job into full-time Violence Prevention work. The Delhi gang-rape incident of December resulted in an increased demand for self-defense programs. Pooja was asked by several companies in the local area to conduct Self-Defense seminars for their female employees. Pooja had little time to modify their curriculum to fit the time durations requested. While Seido Noida had been using TW’s resources as a model for their Self-Defense courses (thanks to Jun Shihan Nancy’s generosity!), there had never been the opportunity for someone from Thousand Waves to explain the curriculum or otherwise work closely with Pooja or Sensei Rahul. Thrilled with the opportunity to help in some way, I served as a consultant of sorts, demonstrating and explaining the material to help Pooja find new ways to adapt the curriculum to fit the new format for her upcoming courses. For me part of the challenge was finding ways to adapt the material in ways that made more sense for an Indian context. Boundary setting and de-escalation as social expressions function differently in India, and as I discovered personally, the techniques that we teach have to be modified slightly to be maximally effective in an Indian context.

When I next passed through Delhi (on my way back to Chicago) I was glad to have the opportunity to assist Pooja for one of these Self Defense seminars. The course I assisted for was a 4-hour course held for female employees of Nucleus Software in Noida (a computer software company and by chance, Sensei Rahul’s workplace). I learned much from these women and plan to write about this experience in my blog over the upcoming months.

Beyond the considerable amount of research I accomplished, the connections and relationships I formed with women—foreign and Indian—while traveling throughout North India have made this trip an amazingly enriching experience. Sensei Rahul, Pooja and their son are like a second family to me now. As Pooja continues to develop their curriculum we have continued to correspond (via Skype) about Self Defense materials. I’m sure we will all continue to keep in touch over the years and I look forward to more visits in the future—for my own research and for future Violence Prevention work as well. Osu!