Bare feet, sharp thwacks of kicks, focused exhales.

“Hi-yah!”

At the front of the class stand sisters Furaha (15) and Sifa (11) from Burundi.  

Furaha’s gaze does not waver. Her movements are precise, deliberate. Beside her, Sifa watches carefully before every strike - quieter than her sister, but just as fierce.

Six months ago, neither of them had ever heard of taekwondo.

When taekwondo arrived in Kalobeyei in 2023, most girls had never seen it before. 

Nyagoa, KLABU team member, was mid sentence, recruiting boys, when Furaha stopped her: "Are girls allowed to join?" Six months later, she is leading the class. When Coach Eric is late, she steps forward.

“My dream is to become a good teacher in the future, so that I can teach other girls and boys here at KLABU.”

Sifa's taekwondo journey started in front of a television - one glimpse of a match, legs spinning through air. Then one afternoon she saw her older sister walking toward the KLABU hall and just went with her.

Now the two of them line up side by side every session, and when they go home they don't stop. They practice in the yard, in the corridor, in whatever space they can find, until someone calls them in for dinner.

Before taekwondo, Furaha used to map her routes through Kalobeyei carefully. Which streets felt safer. Which ones didn't.

“Coach Eric told us: ‘Don’t fear anything. But don’t fight with anyone.’”

As the oldest of five children, Furaha feels responsible. Sifa walks beside her. They move through Kalobeyei differently now - shoulders back, eyes forward.