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Social Martial Arts Association - SOMA

I am a co-founder of SOMA Association. The following information showcases the scope of our work, together with Erin Stuckenbruck and Verena Walther.

Acknowledgments: SOMA Foundation is funded by three migrant women and run with the support of other migrant volunteers who bring diverse professional backgrounds and a shared love for martial arts. All the work you see here was realized by the three co-founders of the association: Erin Stuckenbruck, Verena Walther, and Sevda Tunaboylu. The first two SOMA programmes were graciously hosted by Ruckus Athletics. All photos and videos were taken by our talented friend, Francesca Wallace. The classes were supported by our volunteer instructor Astrea Somarriba. Brand logo and guidelines were created by Catalice Design.

What?

I am a dedicated academician and activist working on the topic of international migration over the past ten years. I am also a martial arts practitioner and instructor.

Why?

As a migrant women myself, and coming from an intercultural family, I believe in the strength, resilience, and courage that shape the decision to move in search of a better life.

How?

My work centers on understanding the experiences of migrants, advocate for open borders, and make the world a better place.

Inspiration

I believe in the power of martial arts training to improve wellbeing, build confidence, strengthen social connections, and promote positive social values. I am inspired every day by the resilience of the migrant women I work with. My goal is to build intimate connections; not only mentoring, but creating a strong foundation for a mutual journey toward fulfillment.

Purpose

I love the physical act of teaching martial arts, witnessing the process of reclaiming one’s body and space, being vulnerable and strong at the same time, and forming beautiful, meaningful relationships. I believe this process strongly contributes to social and economic inclusion, supporting both migrant wellbeing and the host society.

OUR WORK

As SOMA Association, we run programmes for asylum-seeking, refugee, and migrant women with limited resources, with the objectives of promoting wellbeing, social inclusion and employability.

This is a migrant women led initiative. We are three co-founders with diverse professional backgrounds and a shared passion for martial arts. Verena Walther has a background in law, specifically asylum and migration, and is now studying psychology with a focus on somatic therapy. Erin Stuckenbruck is a co-owner of a martial arts gym and has more than 10 years of experience in education and pedagogy.

Together, we put all our resources into realising the SOMA mission: from building the website to managing social media, from developing trauma-informed curricula to delivering the classes, from designing educational and social events to monitoring and evaluating our programmes, from financing the association to documenting our journey. We rely on our experience, our passion, and most importantly the incredible work of our volunteers.

Funding Statement: SOMA Association Fall Program received grant under the Impulsem El Que Fas program funded by the Barcelona City Council and Barcelona Activa.

How the classes are structured?

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1. Safe Space

We focus on creating a safe welcoming space and building connections. The classes are focused less on the technique and more on feeling good and strong in our bodies.

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2. Targeted curricula

We start with fun games that helps break the ice and build community. We adapt to different language needs, mostly teaching by showing that eliminates any language barriers.

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3. Building connections

We purposely match students each time with different partner to grow social connections. We learn how to be confident in our body, how to reclaim our personal space and how to communicate even when we don’t speak the same language.

Social Events

Inclusive

We build a bond with our participants as instructors and encourage this across the program.

Supportive

We never ask intrusive questions in the first class, neither in the last class, we let nature takes its course, and students come to us with their feedback, suggestions and needs if any.

Educational Events

Based on research and evidence

We have done our study. We know that migrant women are at a disadvantage when it comes to job market participation. They are disproportionately unemployed, and when they do find work, many are overqualified for their jobs.

We also know that the women who do find jobs often do so through social networks.

So we bring these two facts together.

We start with a skills assessment workshop; it sounds boring, but we make it fun with activities like going back to when we were 10 years old and remembering what our aspirations were. We reflect on where we are now and where we want to go.

Depending on each woman’s needs, we offer one-on-one mentoring, helping with paperwork, language support, training opportunities, or job searches.

Finally, and most importantly, we use our social and professional networks to connect students with people from diverse backgrounds who have resources and knowledge to share.

In this way, we challenge the traditional job-finding model for migrants, one that doesn’t work in our contemporary dynamics, and create a new pathway based on connection, community, and opportunity.

We can help your gym create a social impact programme, or support your association in running martial arts training and bringing its positive mental, psychological, and social benefits to your community.

01

You are a martial arts gym

Contact us to get support with creating a social impact program from zero: outreach, recruiting the right participants, curricula development, delivering the classes in a sensitive setting, evaluation forms and surveys, fundings.

02

You are an migrant association

Contact us to bring martial arts classes to your members. The bonus: no previous sports experience needed, no language requirements, just show up and enjoy, while fast-forwarding the inclusion process.

03

You are a migrant

If you are in Barcelona, follow us on the SOMA Association Instagram account for updates on our next programme. We usually open applications every three months, but you can still contact us in between, we might have space for you ;)

If you are outside Barcelona, reach out to us and we can discuss options with local gyms for potential access.

Contact

Website

Instagram

Email

soma-association.org

@soma-association

info@soma-association.org

sevdatunaboylu@gmail.com

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