Woman from Maidstone taking Muay Thai skills to refugee camps

The fitness trainer is using her skills to help some of the most vulnerable women.

Samuelson has recently returned from Athens, where she volunteered with EmpowerVan, a charity which teaches weekly self-defence classes to women and girls currently housed in refugee camps outside the city.

Founder and director, Claude Jonkmans, said: “In our camp classes, we usually focus on physical techniques so we do anything from learning how to block, learning how to strike.”

Its activities are designed to help female refugees, many of whom come from countries such as Afghanistan and Sudan, to better protect themselves in new environments.

Jonkmans said: “We also do empowerment practices where we just learn how to say no, where we find our boundaries.”