Final Push! Support Female Combat Sport Athletes

Colin Stewart is organising this fundraiser.

Donation protected

UPDATE:

The World Championship in Dubai - The Next Chapter of Ethiopian BJJ

Due to very high airfare and accommodation costs, we fell short on fundraising to send Mesky to the World Games. The silver lining - we are close to our goal of sending both Mesky and Mita to Dubai for the World Championship in November. We need another $900 to cover accommodation costs (we have raised enough for airfare and registration). Please consider contributing and posting this link.

Thank you for all the support over the past year!

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Mita attended the African Championship and brought home two medals! Thank you for all your support! Because of your generosity, Mita was able to travel abroad for the first time and blaze a trail for future female athletes in Ethiopia. Now it's Mesky's turn to make history!

We need to raise roughly $1700 to send Mesky to the World Games next month. Please consider supporting our cause. Thank you!

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Mesky and Mita are Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athletes from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, who plan to compete in the World Games in the USA and the African Championship in Angola, respectively. Ethiopia is not an easy place to train BJJ. You cannot buy a gi or mats anywhere in the country. Further, though an African champion, the nation's top grappler is a purple belt (Yared Nigusse, founder of Kao BJJ and Mesky and Mita's coach). While these two women face many challenges, they persevere and are determined to represent their country and institutionalize Ethiopian BJJ.

Mesky is the original female BJJ athlete in Ethiopia. She won a silver and bronze medal at the African Championship in 2019 (check out the video to see the bite marks from when Mesky's opponent tried to bite her way out of a choke - yikes!), which earned her an invitation to the World Games being held this summer in Birmingham, Alabama. There will be over 30 events at the World Games, and Mesky is the only Ethiopian athlete to receive this honor. While the governing body covers many of the costs associated with competing, airfare and registration fees are left to the athlete.

Mita, who is Mesky's younger sister, has been training BJJ for years, but has never had the opportunity to compete. She is fearless on the mats and has masterfully incorporated her judo background to drop many men twice her size on their back pockets. Her savage smile and confidence scream: "I am an African Champion!" It's 'prove it' time.

Help send these two women, the only female BJJ blue belts in the Horn of Africa, to the center of the ring and top of the podium.