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Vital Defense International

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Vital Defense International

Vital Defense International

Vital Defense International

Vital Defense International

Vital Defense International

Krysti Adamich
Krysti Adamich
Krysti Adamich
Krysti Adamich
2 Campaigns |
Los Angeles, United States
$3,590 USD 26 backers
59% of $6,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal
Highlights
Mountain Filled 2 Projects Mountain Filled 2 Projects

We are bringing self defense and nutrition education to rural villages in northern South Africa. We leave September 19th! Know that this is DIRECT ACTION TO PEOPLE IN SERIOUS NEED with great instructors. Our work is an opportunity to become a sustainable program with life saving potential, but it cannot happen without your support.

 

It's simple! Given our reduced equipment cost, generous people, and other fundraising, our 4 month test program only needs $6,000 to be successful!

 

Aside from this Generosity platform, we are raising money through one huge Portland Krav Maga seminar, two Portland garage sales, and one Los Angeles flea market. Right now, we're planning a women’s empowerment social and self defense seminars at a handful of CrossFit boxes. Of our original $16,000 program cost, we have already raised $10,000 in monetary and gear donations!

 

Together we can make the world a better place. Help us do the work that you want to see out there. Remember - what may seem like a small donation can make a huge difference to someone else!

 

Please visit our website, VitalDefense.org to read more and continue reading below!

 

At the end of September, we will be traveling to northern South Africa in the rural areas near the city of Polokwane. We have started our own two person organization, Vital Defense International, to deliver this amazing work. We are working with the Aluwani Foundation to reach out to 29 villages who have expressed resounding interest in self defense and nutrition education. These villages are the homes of 1,000 teenage girls and 3,500 orphaned children who rely on 20 drop-in centers every day for a cooked meal after school, homework assistance, opportunity to wash their uniforms and clothing, emotional support, and a safe place to play and learn. We will be traveling to these centers daily to teach self defense and nutrition education.

 

This fundraiser is to get our program off the ground and is budgeted to last four months. We have developed a detailed budget breakdown and are happy to share the details, please ask! Once we have some experience with the communities, we will be applying for larger grants to cover our costs indefinitely. We intend to live in South Africa for at least a year with regular visits thereafter to ensure our high quality work is sustained. 

 

 

OUR MISSION

 

Human rights are defined as the rights that are believed to belong justifiably to every person. The human rights that we are most passionate about are open access to healthful food, free movement of the body, and above all - the ability to protect oneself. Fulfillment of these rights means that a person now has the space to choose their life's trajectory. These concepts should not be limited only to people who can pay high prices and live in developed areas. The education for how to maintain a healthy body is valuable to EVERY body, even people who are born into underprivileged circumstances. What would you do if you had no Internet or differing schools of thought to learn how to feed your newborn baby? What if it was culturally accepted to use rape as a "treatment" for HIV infection? As a "treatment" for homosexuality? The women in the communities we are working with do not grow up with the same cultural privileges that we have in Westernized countries. However, their underlying human rights still exist no matter their circumstance.

 

When we arrive in the communities, our first job is to listen. We know what we have to offer, but our voices will fall on deaf ears if we don't hear what they are open to learning. We are not "white saviors". We have many questions to ask in order to shed light on the differences of our experiences. We will learn pieces of their culture and what barriers (institutional, social, and/or personal) that lie in the way. We will have ongoing discussions on what standing up for yourself can really mean in your domestic relationships and with strangers on the street. These conversations will be ongoing and recorded confidentially in order to track common themes, needs, and progress. By having these invaluable conversations upfront, this will open the door to a culturally sensitive curriculum. We will work together with the community to figure out which elements of our teaching are most appropriate and applicable to daily life: what is most empowering, what builds voice and self worth, and what will bring the community together.

 

Jazzy teaches a self defense style that is simple to learn as it is based on clear principles such as taking the fastest line to defend, natural reactions, dealing with the weakest part of an attacker's threat, and neutralizing it with immediate counter-aggression. Our program mainly focuses on women and marginalized people, though the entire community including men and elders will have agreed that this training is welcomed. These self defense techniques are available for every body type and work no matter a person's size or strength. Jazzy has an unmatched intuitive ability to cater training to meet the specific needs of her students. Sessions will be intense with varied scenarios and approaches to training in order to take out any freeze responses. Sessions will be up to four times per week with each group in order to hone new skills and build students' confidence that their new techniques really will work. The training will include combative techniques using the entire body from head to foot as weapons, spatial awareness in crowds, rape scenarios, defenses to choking, and also weapon skills with blunt objects, knives, and guns.

 

Krysti teaches nutrition in order to empower informed, science-based, economical choices. She will work with individuals to increase education about local foods with high levels of vitamins and minerals, the benefits of breastfeeding, food storage year-round, how to diversify subsistence farming and home gardening, and to maintain clean water access throughout the year. By improving these elements specifically, we are working to end seasonal hunger in rural areas. Krysti will do this by teaching group courses in nutrition education, using permaculture concepts with households, and coaching individuals on their specific needs. She will identify food supply chains like local restaurant surplus ingredients or food remnants that can be redistributed to people who would otherwise go without food, or used as organic compost.

 

Human rights are fundamental to all people, no matter their background. In the end, these community members are women just like the friends we have in our own community at home. We are fortunate to have thoroughly trained for real world self defense and health education so we can share it with others who have not had the same opportunities. Everyone should have the right to choose best choices for themselves. If not us, then who?

 

OUR STORIES

 

Jazzy Green has expert level teaching credentials through the self defense system of Krav Maga Worldwide, and trained with them since 2001. Her nuances in teaching come from her passion for healthy functional movement, and grappling with another body. She had a successful wrestling background and was selected as a junior in high school to attend the Olympic Education Center to further her competitive career while finishing high school. Her 200-hour YogaWorks certification developed from grounding experiences of breath and presence work. She is also registered through CETI for her certification as a Cancer Exercise Specialist. She passionately remains a student in continuing education courses.

 

Krysti Adamich is a certified nutrition coach through Precision Nutrition. She established Grounded Wellness LLC to deliver individual client coaching and small group nutrition education. She teaches a balanced approach that promotes a plant-based diet that is supplemented with ethically-raised animal products. She knows that nutrition coaching is rooted in behavior change, so she figures out what will work uniquely with each person. To accomplish long term change, she helps clients with cooking skills, grocery store shopping, and food preservation. Krysti believes that a person who is well-informed about nutrition fundamentals as well as the realities of modern agriculture will inherently make better choices to feed themselves and their families. Krysti is also a Certified Personal Trainer through the American Council on Exercise and a licensed Professional Engineer in Electrical Engineering.

 

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