BLACKSBURG -- Margaret Gichana may be the safest woman in town.

The other five members of her family -- from her 5-year-old son to her 42-year-old husband -- are students of karate.

Literally translated "the way of the empty hand," karate is one of the oldest methods of defending oneself without the use of weapons.

Gichana has even considered getting herself a gi (karate suit) and learning how to do a sokuto (side kick), but when would she find the time?

"I try to be available to take them back and forth," the demure woman -- a native of Kenya -- said in her lilting accent.

Indeed, the busy mother spends a lot of time in the family car, providing taxi service for little Ateka, a yellow-belt student who just graduated from his "Tiny Tigers" group at the American Martial Arts Center, as well as her 17-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, and sons Walter, 15, and Monari, 10. The three older ones already have their black belts.

"I started about 3½ years ago," explained Elizabeth, a Blacksburg High School senior. "I started because my brothers are in it and I wanted to learn self-defense, too. It's a lot of fun."

It was Monari who got the rest of the family interested in karate. He was about Ateka's age when he dreamed of becoming the next Karate Kid.

"Monari is very active and relatively quick," explained his father, Radford University geography professor Charles Manyara. "When this idea came up, I just thought, 'He can do it.' "

"I had always admired martial arts," the father added. "Karate does not encourage you to use it against anyone. You learn to make a good decision when you must do it."

It took Monari more than four years to attain shodan, the first level of black belt.

"You have to show that you have confidence, power and spirit to do it," said the Kipps Elementary School fifth-grader. Selected for the American Martial Arts Center's "SWAT" team -- an acronym for Special Winning Attitude Team -- Monari said his dream now is to open his own dojo when he grows up.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth plans to pursue a career in music or house construction, Walter has his eyes set on studying law and even Ateka, a kindergartner, has a goal.

"I already know what I want to be," he asserted. "A car salesman!"

In Kenya, where Manyara and Gichana were born, children did not have the opportunities they have in the United States.

Manyara said he wanted to be an architect when he was growing up.

Although he was one of only 3,000 students selected from a pool of 150,000 applicants to Kenya's University of Nairobi, he was not allowed to pursue the study of architecture.

"I was assigned into education," he said, explaining that he taught in a high school for three years before doing graduate work in the United States and becoming a professor.

"So many never made it. I'm not complaining," he added.

Karate and other martial arts are available in Kenya, he said, but most children don't have the means to enroll in classes.

He and his wife are glad that their children do.

"I've learned discipline and to always try your hardest," said Walter, a sophomore at Blacksburg High School. "It goes into everything you do. We practice focusing. During school, you can use the same techniques to focus on your work."

Karate, agreed Elizabeth, "is a lot more mental than physical. If you can convince yourself that you can do something, you can do it."

Monari said "spirit drills" are part of karate training, a mental reinforcement that helps practitioners push themselves to focus energy beyond fatigue.

"Can't quit. Got to do it. Must go on," Monari recited.

"Sounds like a Nike commercial, doesn't it?" his father responded with a laugh.

But Gichana said she has noticed that her children's karate training influences their ability to concentrate on everyday tasks.

"Especially Ateka," she noted. "If he's looking for something, he won't stop until he finds it."

Manyara -- who has earned his green belt -- takes adult-level karate classes.

For him, it's a good way to exercise and stay connected to his children. He likes the way the sport emphasizes respect and honor, two things he wants his children to carry with them always.

"The very first rule for karate," he noted, "is that you should not use it unless you are defending yourself."

For Monari, who's working on earning his first black-belt stripe, that may never be necessary.

"I'm not picked on," the youngster said. "One time we had a family day and my teachers came to school. When [the students] saw my black belt, they were shocked.

"They didn't believe me when I told them."

How good are you?

Japanese Judo was the first martial art to use colored belts to signify a student’s progress. Some say that in the old days the white belt was simply dyed to a new and darker color each time the student advanced. Another theory -- more myth than reality -- is that belts simply went from white to black because the original karate practitioners never washed their belts.

White: No rank

Yellow: Novice

Orange: Novice

Green: Intermediate

Blue: Intermediate

Purple: Intermediate

Brown: Advanced

Red: Advanced

Black: Advanced

After a student achieves the black belt, levels of advancement progress by degrees signified by stripes or emblems.