STAND YOUR GROUND
Sheba Choudhury, 40, from Plaistow, is helping women and girls in her local area to feel confident and safe…
Trying to find a solution, I scoured the internet for an opportunity. ‘You don’t have to search for self-defence classes, Mum. I don’t need them,’ my teenage daughter shrugged.
I knew that she didn’t want to feel defeated, but she’d been attacked on her way home from school at the end of 2022.
If I hadn’t had been able to get there in time, who knows what could have happened.
I wanted her to feel safe and be able to confidently defend herself if she ever needed to.
However, when looking for groups in the local area, I couldn’t find anything.
Working closely with the community in the past anyway, I started to ask around to see how people would feel about getting involved.
By this point, what started as an idea to support my daughter, became a way to help both women and girls on a broader spectrum, too.
With 250 participants who wanted self-defence sessions, I approached Plaistow South Big Local, part of the Local Trust, to ask for funding.
And at the start of 2023, we’d launched a pilot project for six months, for girls aged 11+ to learn how to stand their ground for free!
With space for 20 to 25 people in each session, the initial feedback was great.
Learning martial arts from a professional, it became a social activity for those children. And my daughter loved it, too.
After a few weeks, we launched sessions where parents could learn alongside their children.
We now also have a women’s group that works alongside community police officers.
The overall consensus is that everyone feels like they can defend themselves – which is incredible.
The sessions have helped to improve my daughter’s confidence and that is empowering.
It doesn’t matter if you never need to use it, but at least you’ll know how to protect yourself.
And by coming together as a community, we can all stand our ground confidently.