RSS
Home
Robert Kent - A Martial Artist Making a Difference
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Robert Kent has become an innovative force in bringing the harmonizing influence of Aikido into the lives of kids throughout the world. Rob founded “The PeaceCamp Initiative" which brings Palestinian and Israeli youth together at a traditional American summer camp. Like many camps there are sports, outdoor activities, and a spring-fed mountain lake in which campers from all over the world forge friendships, boost confidence, and build trust. Thanks to The PeaceCamp Initiative, a few of those attending the camp have the chance, surrounded by their new American friends, to overcome generations of mistrust and begin the process of healing.
Rob submitted an essay to NPR’s “This I Believe” that got the Peace Camp idea off the ground. These were his words: “I believe that kids need someone in their lives besides their parents, someone who doesn’t have to care about them, but does anyway. Someone who can accept them as they are, and convince them that are already worthy of respect, affection, and dignity. Someone who, while accepting their present, inspires their future.”
Rob is the winner of the Ben & Jerry’s “Peace Pioneer Prize.” In an excerpt from that press release Rob writes: “We live in a world where a successful resolution of the conflict between Israel and Palestine is the single most critical step in eliminating the root cause and the rallying cry of global terrorism.” There were three PeaceCamp Scholarship winners in 2008: one Jewish, one Christian and one Muslim. This year there will be five kids: three boys and 2 girls (two Jews and three Palestinians). Rob wrote in an e mail to me that, “These young men and women will also, in turn, become leaders amongst their peers, and start sowing seeds of peace and tolerance in a land where both are scare.”
In 2001, Rob created the website AikidoKids.com to support instructors who teach aikido to kids, or who might consider doing so. The site offers lists of games, curriculum ideas, equipment suggestions and instructor profiles. Since 2006, he has taught a course on “Aikido and Ethics” at Williams College. He is on the Board of Directors of Aiki-Extensions , an organization that brings the tactical insights and practical wisdom of Aikido off the mat and into the rest of the world – specifically engaging, among other focus areas, with therapy, inner-city gang violence prevention, and Middle East peace efforts. Rob also works as a mentor and teen counselor. He currently leads two “tribes” (The elder tribe, now 16-18 years old, is known as “Teen Samurai” and the younger tribe, 12-14, are the “Aiki-Jedi”) that meet twice a month for advanced Aikido training followed by various group-bonding activities like movies and pizza, or trips to local events like the Renaissance Faire each fall. Since young teens are going to be tribal anyway, it has always seemed a better idea to make sure that such tribes have leadership that can help the members support each other and help steer them thru the myriad challenges of adolescence. He begins meeting with these kids when they are 12 to 13 years old, and continues to meet with them until they graduate from high school.
As a 4th degree black belt in Aikido through Aikido West in Redwood City, CA, Rob's attitude in all he does in his life is to create a “win-win” situation for everyone. When asked about his own vision for the future, he says one ambition: “…is to help arrange an Aikido seminar at the US or Japanese Embassy in Tel Aviv where Israeli Commandos and Palestinian Security Forces personnel would put down their guns, step onto the mat, and train together – and perhaps for the first time get to experience, in their bodies, what peace feels like." You can contact Rob to support his work and make donations here:
rk@peacecampinitiative.org or at www.peacecampinitiative.org/donate.htm
Related Articles:
Comments
