2024 INSPIRING COMMUNICATIONS 23: ECUDAOR-PERU-USA
The Journey: “Action – Doing – Service – makes one feel empowered and stronger, now I feel empowered and stronger” – Aydee Trujillo. A lawyer from San Francisco de Quito University and graduating from TIAS2.0 (Sports Science and Medicine), University of Tsukuba, embarked on a personal and professional life journey, this is her story.
“If I can say anything, it’s that life changes quickly and, in my case, it has taken me to wonderful places, allowing me to gain experiences and knowledge from extraordinary people, which has helped me grow not only as a human being but also in awareness. – One of my personal goals after graduation was to return home and prepare for one of any athlete’s dreams: participating in a world championship. With this goal in mind, I have been preparing physically, mentally, and financially for this new challenge. – Despite being part of the Peruvian kendo team, my home is in Ecuador. Despite numerous challenges, along with the wonderful manager and now coach of the Peruvian kendo team, Shamina Kerstein, and our second manager, Nathan Gallinger, we created a fundraising plan that allowed me to travel to the United States. Training at one of the best dojos in Houston, Ken Shi Kan Dojo, improved my skills, and also carried out fundraising activities to support the Peruvian team in their journey to our next destination: Milan! ITALY.”
“From January to April 2024, training with Sensei’s Shamina and Mark Kerstein, refined my technique to do my best at the world championship. Additionally, I managed to win, such as first place in teams at the Texas Intercollegiate, where kenshis from various strong universities participated, and I won all my matches.”
“Additionally, organized kendo events where we offered a beautiful tenugui (Japanese hand towel) with the official logo of our participation as the Peruvian team in the world championship, as well as beautiful t-shirts with a cool logo designed by the kind folks of the Cougar Kendo Club at the University of Houston. Grateful for the space on campus and the support without which I don’t think I could have done it all.”
“Finally, an important realization that filled me the most was the kindness of certain people in kendo, who support, sustain, create, and lead others in their community. I love this martial art, but recently I felt a bit weak and discouraged by something I love, which worried me. Reflecting on why am I feeling this way? But then I remembered that I personally enjoy doing projects that can help people, and if it’s in kendo, even better – enjoy growing in something I love very much. But for a long time, just being in a student state, without giving anything back or sharing that “service”, I felt that something was not right, that something didn’t feel correct. Something I learned from the wonderful knowledge of Sensei’s Genboku and Randeep is that feeling of service to their community. Without hesitation, they supported me in this project, promoting it from Japan. Many thanks to them and my friends in Tsukuba, who have helped me from afar. I feel very grateful to know such people. To have returned to the path of service, I hope you can experience it too.
This Journey post-TIAS2.0 has made me feel stronger and empowered. I hope you can feel the same way too.
