Taken in by Kenya as young refugee, Regina boxer returns to country to help train coaches

When Moses Moses was just a child,civil war broke out in what is now South Sudan, where he was born. His family didn't know where they were going to go or what would come next.

Eventually, theywere taken in as refugees in neighbouring Kenya.

"If they didn't take us in, who knows where we'd be today," said Moses.

While in Kenya, his family appliedto immigrate toCanada. They came here27 years ago, and Moses went on to make a career in boxing.

Now living in Regina, Mosesreturned to Kenya last monthtoshare his boxing experience as a way to say thank you to the community thattook him in.

But the 41-year-old, whoisone of the boxing instructors at Regina's New Line Boxing Club,wanted to learn what the community needed, instead of just bringing his own ideas.

To do that, Moses went to Nairobi, Kenya, and met with the president of the Nairobi County Boxing Association, as well as a number of boxing clubs involved in the association. The biggest needs, he learned, were equipment and training facilities, along with developing coaching strategies and skills.

"So what I'm doing is I'm giving my knowledge of coaching to them so that they can also be coaches that can produce high-calibreboxers," Moses said.

Boxing program a chance to 'see the different world'

Moses is now back in Regina to plan and developa two-week training camp he'll deliver in Nairobinext year. He hopes to also take some former boxers, colleagues and young boxers along with him for the next trip.

"We're taking documents manuals on coaching, manuals on officiating, athlete-development manuals," he said, which the Kenyan boxers can then use to continue training.

"It's also a great opportunity for youth in Canada to have," he said, "to be able to go to Kenya, and experience life in Kenya different cultures, different traditions, andsee the different world."

Long-term, Moses hopes to develop a community boxing training facility in Nairobi, where youth in school cancome and train. Being connected to the school would create an incentive for boxers to keep studying, Moses says.

As well, in the future, he hopes to seea student exchange program through boxing, where students in Saskatchewan could train in Nairobi and vice versa.

Part of what's driving Moses to work forchange in Nairobi is that he still sees a lot of the issues that existedwhen he lived there as a 13-year-old.

Boxing can be life-changing: Moses

"Sanitation is not good, economic development is really, really behind, the poverty is very high and a lot of the kids a lot of young people are on the street trying to make a living, which is pretty much what I experienced," he said.

Education is a key element to changing the situation, he said, and boxing can be a way for young people to make something of their life and learn life lessons through the sport.

"Without boxing I'm not really sure where I would be," he said.

"But given the lifestyle and experiences that I went through, chances are if I did not get into boxing, I would either be dead or in jail or both."

He lovesthat boxing is an individual sport, he says, but that it takes a team to build a person into a boxer.

When you step into the ring, though, there areno excuses or finger-pointing, Moses says everything is on your shoulders.

"In that sense, it forces you to grow up, to be an adult, andbe accountable for your actions because nobody is going to fight this for you," he said.

"When I'm in the ring boxing, it seems like nothing bad exists in the world. There's no wrong, there's no good, there's no right.I feel like I can do anything."

It's the same feeling he wants others to have, he said.

"If I were to pass this knowledge on to somebody else, giving somebody hope, I'm giving somebody the opportunity to also achieve what I'm able to achieve," he said.

It is, he says, "the best way I know how to say thank you to the country that has given me the opportunity to be the man that I am today."