AWSDA - Association for Women's Self Defense Advancement

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We are growing!

Take the Leap in 2008 on Leap Year’s Day and Report Sexual Assault

Become a part of an International Day of Action and say Enough is Enough – Stop Sexual Assault

Our silence and inaction only serves the interests of the criminals and offenders, to sit back and do nothing only hurts the victim yet again.

Remember, you can report sexual assault at any time, you do not need to wait for a leap day.

For more information...

Help support AWSDA!

Purchase your AWSDA logo items online.

At cafeshops.com/awsda you can see what kind of cool tee shirts, sweat shirts and other items you can pick up.

Buy one today!

Creating a Safety Perimeter

There are two simple words to describe what you need to do to create a Safety Perimeter - Target Harden. Target hardening is a term often used to refer to physical security measures in a home or business. It is about taking steps to making your home or business (the target) as uninviting as possible to a potential burglar.

To the Members of AWSDA:

We, the Board, are sending you this letter in hopes that you will consider its message.

17th Annual AWSDA Conference Scheduled

The 17th Annual AWSDA conference is scheduled for August 2-5th, 2008 in Greenville, S.C. with, the 3 day conference immediately following, the 3rd to the 5th, ending with our banquet that night.
The Women's Self Defense Workshop - Instructor Training Course is scheduled for August 2nd.
This years Instructor Training Course is new! For those of you already self defense instructors, join us in the launching of the new AWSDA course.

Hotel reservations can be made online. The line up of instructors and classes will be posted in the beginning of May.

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Correction - The dates for the AWSDA conference are August 2-5, 2008
Stay tuned and mark your calendar now!!

Reflections on Training Trip to Afghanistan

by Sheila Haddad

Stepping out of the plane into the bright sun, the dry 100-degree heat engulfing us, it isn’t hard to catch sight of the distant brown mountains with trails of snow still lingering from the winter. The sky is a hazy blue and as I look around I think, these are scenes I see on TV, and now I am here. It is surreal as we walk on the potholed, packed earth ground to the carousel to pick up our luggage. All around are guards and military men with automatic weapons slung across their bodies, carefully scanning the passengers. Our luggage goes through an x-ray machine on our way out, and we head back into the bright light of midmorning. We walk through layers of security until a western-dressed woman meets us. Nationals, or Afghans, are not allowed in the airport or even the general vicinity unless they are flying out. Esther introduces herself to us. She is from New York and on the board of Women for Afghan Women. She tells us she has been there now a month. Constantly finding funding, meeting various people of other organizations, and juggling a variety of jobs, Esther is deeply committed to the project of helping the women of Afghanistan.

Sitting in a van, bouncing along blown-out rutted dirt roads, we make our way to Manizha’s house. I can’t help but notice how dry, how brown, how dusty everything is. There is little vegetation. We pass a river full of garbage, and along the river is the bombed-out rubble of once mud-brick homes. Squatters live there now, hungry and in rags. We wonder how they manage the freezing winters, and we are told they don’t.