Ugandan taekwondo instructor spreads hope

Bamuwayira Ahmed, left, poses with the students of his Children’s Sports Charity Academy in this undated photo. On the right in blue protective gear is Morris Oceng, who died in 2012, aged 16. Ahmed recalled Oceng as one of his best students. / Courtesy of Bamuwayira Ahmed

By Nam Hyun-woo

For Bamuwayira Ahmed, a taekwondo instructor in Uganda, taekwondo is an important means to spread hope to his people.

Ahmed has been running the Children's Sports Charity Academy, a non-profit organization promoting sports for Ugandan kids in Kampala, for four years as a director, hoping to keep youths off the streets.

“My dream is to have a non-profit sports academy, whereby kids will be doing academics for at least six hours a day and then sports training for the remaining time,” Ahmed told The Korea Times in an e-mail interview. “Most children drop out of school even before reaching secondary. Even those who make it to university end up on the streets because they were not given other opportunities in life. I strongly believe that many children's lives will change if I get a chance to have this kind of academy in Uganda.”

He had run the academy singlehandedly until friends joined him. A total of 42 children, aged 10 to 16, are attending his academy for taekwondo lessons three times a week. According to Ahmed, the boys are mostly the children of the Acholi district who are from poor families who had to relocate from Northern Uganda because of the Ugandan civil war that has lasted more than two decades.

“My taekwondo team is East Africa's No. 1 junior team,” he said. “I usually take a small team to tournaments within, and to two East African countries, (Kenya and Rwanda), but I have to run around to personal friends of mine to ask their help to participate in competitions. Only after I get help from them, I can take them to a tournament.”

He said he could only take three youths to a Gorilla Open Taekwondo Championship in Kigali, Rwanda, in March, because of financial problems. But Ahmed's boys clinched a gold, a silver and a bronze, and won the best team trophy.

“On behalf of the entire team, I'd like to send out our sincerest appreciation to all who contributed for the team to go to the championship,” he said. Initially, Ahmed planned to send a three-boy team to the Chairman's Championship in Mombasa, but could not do so because his sponsor changed his mind.

But not all of Ahmed's children can enjoy the fruits of sportsmanship. One of the children, who has been a member of the academy since its foundation, Morris Oceng, died in 2012 at his age of 16. Ahmed did not elaborate but said, “It's unfortunate he is not here with us today to celebrate as we have a more convenient place for our taekwondo lessons.”

Ahmed said taekwondo is a sport that “we live for.” Among his academy's programs, taekwondo is the main activity. But teaching youths the sport was not only followed by financial problems, but also challenged by those who believe taekwondo is violent.

“The reason why I have only 42 kids, though I wish to have more than a hundred, and I provide lessons to them only three times a week, is that we don't have a permanent place for practice yet,” he said.

Recently, Ahmed found a supporter who is helping him put a roof on a ramshackle hall of the Kireka Police Barracks Primary School, a school in central Uganda, and is putting it to use. He expressed gratitude for the support, but the building appeared dangerous to practice taekwondo. He said the academy would use the hall until it could find a proper taekwondo training hall.

Ahmed said his dream was to expand the academy to teach kids other sports, such as basketball, tennis, swimming and running.

He expressed his hope to bring his children to Korea for the World Junior Cadet Championships in Muju, from Aug. 23-26.

“I want to take my team to international tournaments and prepare my boys for the Olympics in 2020 because, when we get a chance to play in any of the big competitions, it gives my team a huge challenge which is a good exposure and experience.”