Hello fellow KMBC fans,

I want to touch a bit on Women's selfdefense, and how Krav Maga can empower women to both deal with violentsituations when they happen, but even more importantly, give women who havebeen abused and battered a new lease on life through confidence gained throughtraining. I was really inspired by the story below found through one of mymidnight web crawls. It was really inspiring and I would urge you all to read.

"Hello,my name is Caroline Young, I'm a 29 year old who survived a violent situation.Unfortunately my child did not survive and I want to tell you how it could beavoided...

Thesedays everything is fantastic now that I am happily started on my new Secondlife, but there was a first!

Iwas a 21 year old living in the Big Apple - having just moved therefrom Europe. One day on my way to the office centre in New York Islipped onice, and all the important documents I was carrying flew away. ------Out ofthe blue a dark handsome man appeared, and our hearts seemed to melt."John," helped me collect the papers, ------ and that's just how itstarted.

Webegan dating, ------ it was like a dream. Passion, red roses and tenderness.John was a salesman and traveled quite a lot. Because our dates were only oneor two days at a time we never really got to know each other, and his friendswere only casual acquaintances.Everything moved like lightning, and after 3months of dating I was estatic when John asked me to be his wife. All myfriends and relatives were shocked because our relationship had been so short,but I didn't care, we had a lifetime to spend together. I was young and naive,and was about to pay the price.

Fourmonths of marriage went by, and suddenly John lost his job, (he didn't botherto tell me why). We had to move out of his apartment in to my small one in Brooklyn. I didn't mind because I was still happilymarried. But then there was a bolt of thunder ------

Johnstarted to use my money for drinking. He would come home drunk in the earlyhours. He was depressed and very loud. He began assaulting me with differentkinds of things, and blamed me because he lost his job. Rapidly he became moreviolent.Then, one Friday morning my fairytale dream was broken and destroyed.John arrived home at 5am and started to yell because the food wasn't on thetable. He struck me on the face and smashed my head against the wall so hardthat I almost fell unconscious. I was crying, but he continued to abuse me. Ibecame John's property, I was nothing more than his boxing sack.

Moreand more I was calling in sick at work. I felt that the problems we had wereall my fault, and worried that I didn't always fulfill his demands. Was thedinner just right? Was there enough beer in the fridge?Beer was how it started.More beer, then more abuse and violence. He even forced me to bed after hittingme. He always threatened me that if I told my friends, some little accident mayhappen to them too. Things were better sometimes though, and he even tried tofind a job. He brought me flowers and promised to change, but sadly he neverdid.

Iwas living in fear, and had to put on an act with my friends so they believedall was well. The pretense grew so hard that I tried to avoid them.

Oneday when John was recklessly drunk, he beat me up more horrifically than ever,he raped me very violently. Then he threw me down the stairs. Luckily myneighbors found me lying unconscious and took me to the hospital. I justescaped a coma. My face was battered, I had internal bleeding, and 7 ribs werebroken. The Doctor asked me if I knew I was 10 weeks pregnant, but I definitelydidn't. One rib had gone through the uterus, forcing me to have a hysterectomy.This was how I lost my unborn child. Now I can never have a baby.

Inthe hospital I was asked if my husband had beaten me up. I could not face thetruth. ------ I said I fell down the stairs, but I'm not sure they believed me.The police went to find John at home, ...... he was also unconscious, but inhis case because of alcohol.

Myfriends knew about John's bad temper, but I always put on a happy face. I spenttwo weeks in hospital and "dear John" came to visit everyday carryingflowers, and saying how much he loved me. I was always frightened, and could nolonger believe him.

Duringmy stay in hospital my boss visited me. Attached to the flowers she brought me,was a small advertisement which read, "An Effective Self defense Coursefor Women". Another work friend who visited me, said I could move into herapartment until my "problems" were resolved. ------ And that's justwhat I did!

PhysicallyI was just about alright, except for the brutal fact that I would never be ableto have children. This was a reality I didn't even want to consider. Mentally Iwas weak and living in terror, worrying that one day John would find me.

Iheard he had sold all our possessions in order to buy alcohol. He could nolonger pay the rent, and would soon be homeless. I informed him through mylawyer that I wanted a divorce. He would not accept it, saying there were nogrounds and no proof. ------ I thought I would never be free.

Afew days later I remembered the advertisement about the self defense course. Idecided to make a positive move and go forward with my life. I wanted to dosomething to protect myself and regain my self confidence. Finally I called in------

Therewere 17 women on the course, all with different stories and different motives.The course ran twice a week. It lasted 4 months and in that time we practicedmany different types of self defense techniques against the most common attackson the streets and at home. I started to feel more secure and confident after Ilearnt the first tactic, I wanted the course to go faster because I was stillafraid that I might end up in a situation where I would need all the skills. Myinstructor was very warm, but also very demanding. He had been born in anunstable country, and had fought in the Middle Eastwars. He had coached women soldiers, so he really knew what we needed to learn.

Theinstructor's main objective was to make us understand the different types ofthreats we could encounter. He used lots of examples from real life and advisedus on how to avoid them beforehand, as well as using self defense techniquesagainst aggressive attackers. We all learned how to feel more secure.

Onthe course I grew as a person and regained my self respect, I realized that noone has the right to abuse anyone physically or sexually. I saw how I hadallowed myself to be abused.

Towardsthe end of the course my friend from the office phoned me and said that Johnhad called in. She said he was willing to give me a divorce, but wanted to talkto me about it before. We arranged to meet in a nearby restaurant. I did notchance going alone, and took along my girlfriend. John was really down, and Ialmost felt sorry for him. He said he loved me and wanted me back. I told himit was all over, and the only thing I wanted was his signature on the divorcepaper. He looked like he was going to cry, but then the insults flew. Heaccused me of being an unfaithful wife and a hooker. He said he would neverdivorce me.

Myfriend and I got up from the table and headed for the exit. Suddenly someonescreamed "Watch out, he's got a knife!" I swiftly turned round andsaw John attacking me with the knife using the "Oriental Stab," anaction which I had learnt the defense and counter attack to, in my firstlesson. I used my natural reactions and reflexes using the techniqueautomatically. John had no time to think when I hit him just under the nosewith my palm. Immediately I continued, and kicked him straight in the groin 45degrees upwards This was too much for him. He fell and started to throw up.Probably my first strike had been enough for him. I felt proud of being able todefend myself, and it was finally payback time! The police were called, andcustomers congratulated me, some had worried I would be hurt.

DuringJohn's trial, it was revealed that he had other physical abuse charges.Apparently he had been fired because he had beaten up a colleague when she refusedto go to bed with him. My divorce came through, and John was arrested and putin jail for 3 years.

Somy story had a good ending, but it could have been very different!

 Krav Maga Boot Camp helps empower women against abuse, battery, rape and worse… our traininghelps women gain new confidence through our expert instructional videos. Give us a try, and if you like what you see, tell your friends.

Pleasefeel free to pass this story along and inspire someone to make a change intheir lives for the better.

Cheers

Bob