Women equipped with self-defence skills

On February 28, Breaking Free Trauma Support Centre held a self-defence workshop at Liverpool Secondary School in Actonville.

The centre is a non-profit organisation based in the Benoni CBD, and focuses on creating awareness for child and women abuse, rape and drug abuse.

Nazreen Dean, director of Breaking Free Trauma Support Centre, said the centre provides counselling to help abuse victims overcome their trauma and be able to take control of their lives again.

On the day, director of Elite Defence Academy, Des Brown, demonstrated a few self-defence techniques that women can use when confronted.

Brown said we live in a country where women are seen as defenceless and that that has to change.

“We need to equip women with skills that will help them overpower whatever life throws at them,” said Brown.

Brown said there are four colours that will help you prepare yourself for anything that might happen at any second.

The colours are: white, yellow, orange and red.

• White is the lowest level – you are unaware of or not alert to your environment. This state is usually characterised as “daydreaming” or “preoccupied”. In this state you walk with head down and do not notice the impending danger until it happens.
• Yellow is a relaxed state of general alertness. You are not looking for anything or anyone in particular; you simply have your head up and eyes open. You are alert and aware of your surroundings.
• Orange is a heightened state of alertness with a specific target noted.
• Red is when you are ready to fight. You may or may not actually be fighting, but you are mentally prepared to fight.

Brown added that before an attacker has gained full control of you, you must do everything you can, conserving as much energy as possible to inflict injury so you can get away.

“So aim for the parts of the body where you can do the most damage easily: the eyes, nose, ears, neck, groin, knee, and legs,” he said.

Brown provided a few tricks that can help you defend yourself in an attack:

• Eyes: gouging, poking or scratching the attacker’s eyes with your fingers or knuckles would be effective, as you can imagine. Besides causing a lot of pain, this should also make your escape easier by at least temporarily interfering with the attacker’s vision.
• Neck: the side of the neck is a bigger target, where both the carotid artery and jugular vein are located. You could possibly temporarily stun your attacker with a knife hand strike (all fingers held straight and tightly together, with thumb tucked and slightly bent at the knuckle) at the side of the neck.
• Knee: Brown said the knee is an ideal self-defence target. It is vulnerable from every angle and easily kicked without risk of your foot being grabbed. Kick the side of the knee to cause injury or partially incapacitate your attacker.

“Violence is unavoidable. However, to really defend yourself, you’ll want to know ahead of time how to fight back effectively,” said Brown.

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