The Importance of Syrian Taekwondo

Holy crap, this is not what I was expecting!!! Someone show them this comment, I genuinely appreciate all of you and your kind words mean a lot to me. Thank you. I hope you all have amazing wonderful lives ❤️

Well I watched this video at least. Thanks for making this. It was wonderful to get a peek at their lives. They are an inspiration.

Thank you very much for this wonderful video. It was a wonderful day when we met in this club in Zaatari camp. I hope that this video will be the focus of everyone's attention and help these children and youth to overcome the difficulties.

the phrase "two gardens. one vegetable, one kinder" is both sweet and hilarious at the same time

As South Korean, I had no idea that our government was doing something like this. That is so cool. Kudos to the gov and the couple!

For as much as we (rightly) bash the modern internet and all its nonsense, it’s really important to remember how much of an impact a connection to the outside world can have. I think this demonstrates that perfectly.

I ignore your videos for a while sometimes. I think I almost cry or do cry a little by the end of almost every single one. I've learned to really appreciate it, no other media leaves me in the same place afterwards. But it means that I save them for when I know I will be most receptive to the story and vulnerable. What you make is a special kind of art. I dunno what to call it.

This video really strikes me to my core. I lived in Syria before the war and it's soul-crushing to see people still living with the consequences of something they have no control over, that I was fortunate enough to have escaped from over a decade ago. To think that people I went to school with in the 2nd grade have had to endure displacement, death, and destruction while I was able to go on to live a relatively normal life is incomprehensible and infuriating. it just makes no sense to me, why the kids I played marbles and soccer with have been condemned to such a bleak existence when I wasn't. Their intentions, thoughts, and cultures are not too different from our own, and yet this is what hundreds of thousands of people have to live with. Our political zeitgeist puts more focus on who is to blame than actually focusing on helping others when we have the capacity to do so. Is another luxury football stadium really necessary, when that money could go to bettering the realities of people who haven't had anything good in their lives other than Taekwondo and YouTube for the past 12 years? And of course, the longer this problem goes on, the fewer people think about it because it's "old news" at this point. I don't think it will ever make sense to me. Hope is a difficult word to understand nowadays, but I hope that one day we can move past the politicians who are hellbent on scapegoating innocent people in need and that we can find the common decency to help them to the extent that they need and treat others the way we ourselves want to be treated.

Must be incredible to be popular half way across the world in such a unique context! Props to this couple, what they are doing there is so wholesome

Lovely message. This made me smile and feel warm at heart. I get emotional just thinking about how much these Syrians go through, just to get a sense of a normal life. Thank you for sharing.

To all the refugees and the taekwondo club, kudos from Europe. I have learnt it is more important who you're with than where you are. You have just confirmed that again. May joy and peace be with you.

It always saddens me that your videos don't get more views, they are always so meaningful and heartfelt, and deserve so much more recognition!

If this isn't motivation to just do better, I don't know what is.

Your dad must be so proud of the work you have done ❤️ This is awesome 👍🏻

Guys like YOU make a difference. Kudos from Portugal.

I'm not sure it would have been possible to tell that story any better than you just did. In a world of shorts and frenzied clickbait, I appreciate you taking the time for narrative and story telling. And I particularly appreciate how damn good you are at telling it.

In the world of martial arts videos on youtube, this is a rarity. Every other MA video is about arguing over the best martial arts. In mind, this is also puts life into perspective, considering so much of martial arts culture on the internet is focused on competition and vainglory. This is a martial arts video about service and kinship in troubled times.

Your end cards are just collections of words but make me think more about life than many books.

My Tae Kwon Do instructor was from Korea (him and his like 9 brothers started a bunch of studios). We started every class honoring not only America, but Korea too. He took my 7yo ADHD, no sense of self, no self control, no sense of drive, self and turned me into almost the youngest black belt on the eastern seaboard, leading classes, holding my own in and out of class.... I owe so much to him, to this martial art.... frick I'm crying again... I'm so glad I can relate to these young people. I have confidence that they will go out into this world and do amazing things.

This is such a wholesome beautiful video, which says something considering how the people being so loving and wholesome are people who are living in camps away from their home.