The initial karate class was an informal one opened by Le Minh Khoi, a fitness teacher of Loc Thanh high school in Bao Lam District, seven years ago.

“It was first founded for teaching karate pupils.”

Nothing is impossible

In 2005, while waiting for her daughter, who was training in the class, an idea flashed into Them’s mind: “Why are only children learning karate when everybody needs it?” She immediately asked Master Khoi if she could join them.

Although many had come to Khoi’s karate class everyday to watch the children practice, lots of local farmers had never thought about participating in the class, since they were ashamed of their old age and poverty, as well as training with their sons and daughters.

However, Them, a 42 year-old farmer, made the difference. “She was my first older disciple,” Khoi recalled.

Since then, a growing trend of learning karate has spread among farmers in Bao Lam District. Now, it is not only the young but also the old who train in Khoi’s class.

“It’s helpful to have both young and old people training together in the same class, because the young have the chance to see and appreciate their parents’ determination, while the old may understand their children more clearly when practicing with them,” Khoi revealed.

Do Van Tho, another martial arts master, for example, comes to the class everyday to practice with his three children. “To encourage them in training Karate-Do, I have to do it first,” he said while wearing his armor and holding a shield to prepare for his children’s kicking lessons.

The 42 year-old Trinh Ngoc Them is Khoi's first older disciple. Photo: Tuoi Tre

“What are you learning Karate for?”

“For revenging all people who have bullied me,” Them answered angrily when being asked on her first day of learning karate seven years ago.

Like Them, many other farmers came to Khoi’s class with a vengeful purpose. According to Le Ngoc Lan, 50, who has been learning Karate for 22 years, “Honest and poor farmers in Loc Thanh commune are living in an insecure area. The time when we harvest our crops is also the time when we are robbed and even killed by thieves.”

Every year, local farmers have to rent about 2,000 temporary laborers, who are mostly strangers and may be either hard workers or thieves, from nearby areas to help them during harvest time. In many cases, these people have killed local farmers and robbed them of their products. People in some areas in Bao Lam District must get home before 6 p.m., while local police are allowed to use electric cudgels if necessary.

However, thinking of revenging was strictly forbidden by Master Khoi. He said, “Martial arts is only used for increasing health, achieving a ‘solid’ mind and for self defense, not revenge.” After seven years of training, Them has changed from an angry person into a gentle one. “I don’t know why I have changed so much. My current purpose is to be gentle in every situation and to defend myself when I am robbed, not to seek revenge anymore,” she shared.

Another participant, Dao Xuan Hoa, 21, a gardener and a pillar of his family, is the best student of Master Khoi. “He used to be a pesky pupil who wanted to become a true member of the underworld. However, Karate-Do has changed him into a gentle, modest and discreet man. In the near future, he is going to become a Karate-Do teacher in our new club,” Master Khoi shared.

To strengthen their throats and breathing, each of Khoi’s disciples has to wear a five-kilogram chain around his or her neck while other students tighten the chain slowly. From these heavy training sessions, they have become stronger, more stable, more confident and much gentler.

According to Pham Van Loc, another of Khoi’s disciples, this area has become much more secure, thanks to Master Khoi and his Karate-Do club. Nowadays, local farmers are able to protect themselves and their families. They are no longer robbed, bullied and killed. “Master Khoi has applied Karate-Do’s spirit and rules to prevent the old and adolescents from committing crimes and helped them to stimulate their bodies and minds,” Loc added.