With barely enough money for plane tickets, karate kids from Belhar in Cape Town kicked and chopped their way to three gold medals at the KSI Karate World Championships, in Germany.The driving force behind their success is provided by a pastor and an imam.South Africa came out tops at this year's championships, winning 14 gold medals in the 25-nation tournament. Runners-up Finland managed to rake in only seven golds.Pastor David Windvogel - karate instructor at the Matroosberg dojo, which is based at a primary school hall in Belhar - admits that he was unsure how the 10 fighters he and co-organiser Imam Kashief Damon sent to Germany would be fed."The children had an immensely nice experience in Germany. People just decided to sponsor our lunch and our supper."Windvogel said the Germans also offered to pay other costs related to the tournament."We were able to compete in everything at the championships."Gold medallists Micheala Fourie, 16, and Edwina Boonzaaier, 15, arrived at Cape Town International Airport yesterday. They were met by a crowd of cheering family members ."I've won gold at the nationals, but at the world championships [to do so] is amazing," said Fourie."Standing on the podium with your medals was the most memorable moment for me," Boonzaaier exclaimed.Windvogel, pastor at the Ark Ministries church in Belhar, said the karate group was not special, other than for their "determination and spirit"."We work on a normal vinyl floor. We are in a relatively poor area. The bulk of the students can't pay their way through the month. You can't expect the parents to pay karate fees instead of buying bread," said Windvogel."We've got our bodies and we use our bodies to train, and we use our minds to train. I think our fighters are clever, some of them are very, very good and the standard at this world tournament was extremely high," the sensei - the Japanese word for teacher - added.Damon, the imam of the Palm Tree Mosque, said: "In [Belhar] [activities such as karate lessons are] very necessary. The area is infested with gangs and drugs, but these children showed us that there's hope. We want to get more children to be involved so we can teach them the discipline to say 'no'."..