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20-year-old Saudi woman teaches Filipino martial arts

Riyadh - She spent two years to become a certified trainer.

A Saudi woman is teaching Filipino martial arts at a sports club in the city of Dhahran, in Kingdom's eastern province, with an aim to empower women.
Reem Al Ouda, 20, learnt a form of martial arts while studying computer science in Tacoma, in Washington, in 2013, and spent two years to become a certified trainer.
Today, along with an American trainer of Filipino origin and her husband, Ouda is teaching a group of youth the form of martial arts based on five combat patterns: eskrima, modern arnis, pekiti tirsia, bo staff and hand-to-hand combat.
The art is known for rapid movements, attack and defence strategies, where two individuals armed with some combat tools and a huge stick confront each other.
Ouda said when she was in Washington she felt donning the headscarf made her appearance stand out at a time when hate crimes against Muslims were believed to be repetitive. She felt it was important to learn self defence in case she is the victim of any attack, and hence Ouda started to search for martial arts classes. She finally joined the Dojo Martial Arts School which taught one of the traditional forms of martial arts practiced by some of Filipino ethnic groups.
She now aims to work with international bodies to empower women in conflicts to learn combat skills to protect themselves. "My goal is to empower women, make them confident and able to defend themselves in case they are subjected to any form of harassment. And to apply what they learn when necessary, at the right time and place," Ouda was quoted as saying in Al Arabiya.