Feature: 5-year-old Tanzanian girl follows in father's footsteps mastering Chinese kung fu

DAR ES SALAAM, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- For Mariam Saidi Mfaume, a five-year-old Tanzanian girl, only the sky is the limit when she delves into the realm of kung fu, the Chinese martial arts, just like her father.

On sunny Saturdays, Mariam usually immerses herself in training at a compound in Toangoma of Temeke District, about 30 km south of the bustling port city of Dar es Salaam, where she practices kung fu with her 10 companions.

"Mariam's interest in kung fu began when she was three years old; she accompanied me to my training camp," said Saidi Mfaume, father of Mariam.

The 38-year-old Tanzanian, also known as Master Mfaume, is a kung fu teacher who owns the Shaolin Temple Tanzania Kung Fu Club in Dar es Salaam. He provided kung fu training to 10 teenagers between the ages of five and 16.

"From the time she was three years old until now, Mariam is responding well to kung fu training," Mfaume, whose Chinese name is Wang Tianlei, told Xinhua.

"Kung fu is in my blood, and my dream is to become a kung fu teacher like my father in the future," said Mariam as she pronounced the slogan of her father's club, "Kung Fu for Health, Self-defense, and Entertainment."

Since 2009, Master Mfaume has trained more than 1,500 young people nationwide, with Chinese martial arts gaining remarkable popularity among youngsters in the East African country.

He said kung fu can not only benefit youth through self-defense, entertainment and confidence building, but also generate jobs through involvement in film projects.

"Kung fu can create employment by performing in action movies. One can become a superstar through acting in a movie," explained Mfaume.

In July, he was invited to attend the Shaolin Games 2024 in China, held in tandem with an international conference that attracted more than 2,000 delegates worldwide.

"Africa was represented by five countries, including Tanzania, at the Shaolin Games and conference where we discussed the challenges facing kung fu trainers," he said, adding that 124 kung fu instructors from across the globe attended the event.

Mfaume said he did not attend the games but the conference, where he was honored with an Excellence in Transmission and Instruction Award.

He said Shaolin Temple Tanzania Kung Fu Club has been invited to participate in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Kung Fu Championship, scheduled from Dec. 14 to 15 in the Zambian capital of Lusaka.

The kung fu tournament, which will see the participation of all 16 member states of the SADC, an intergovernmental organization for enhancing regional socio-economic cooperation and integration, aims to promote Chinese martial arts in the region.

Mfaume trained at the Shaolin Temple in central China's Henan Province for three months in 2013 under the sponsorship of the Chinese government. In 2014, he was offered another scholarship for a short course on Chinese culture, which helped him fully engage in promoting kung fu across Tanzania.

"The cultural exchange between Tanzania and China is a golden opportunity for both countries," Mfaume said.