Aikido Seminar to Benefit Refugee Camps

Southland aikido masters are putting their kicks and punches together this weekend in a fund-raiser to help thousands of Vietnamese living in refugee camps in the Philippines and others, organizers said.

The seminar features six Southern California masters of aikido. One of those teachers lived in a refugee camp himself for nine months before arriving in Southern California.

The two sessions, costing $35 for one session and $60 for both, will be from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. today and 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the International Tenshinkai Aikido Federation, 8536 Westminster Blvd.

The event is part of an ongoing effort in the Vietnamese community to help camp refugees, especially in the Philippines, following a decision by the United Nations and various nations to close the camps and repatriate residents who do not qualify for political asylum.

This year, an agreement was brokered by the Catholic Archdiocese of the Philippines and that nation’s government to allow Vietnamese refugees to remain as long as the church agreed to care for them, said a spokesman for the organizers of this weekend’s event.

Proceeds from the seminar will go to help the archdiocese to care for camp refugees, organizers said.