‘Look, if you keep your arms like this, you won’t have to fight. Then you will be strong too’. Aikido teacher Pascalle explains to Ukrainian Pasha how the principle of Aikido works.

He nods. Despite not yet mastering Dutch, he knows what she means. Pascalle and her colleague Nico from Aikido Utrecht provided six workshops for Ukrainian adults and children staying at Het Provinciehuis this summer.

Before the summer holidays, they had been doing this for at least a year for children from azc Star Lodge and again Ukrainian kids. It produced happy faces every week. Now they will start again. There will be a special group in which both Dutch and refugee children can participate. Very, very valuable. A deep bow for this pair Pascalle and Nico.