Originally a Kabul-based, Afghan NGO, Skateistan has grown internationally, harnessing the power of skateboarding to grease-the-wheels of social change and development in Afghanistan, Cambodia and Pakistan; and offering programmes providing marginalised youth groups with new opportunities for cross-cultural interaction, education, and personal empowerment. Read more about Skateistan and their work here.
(SKATEISTAN: TO LIVE AND SKATE KABULfromDiesel New VoicesonVimeo)
Founded by Oliver Percovich in 2007, Skateistan employs skateboarding as both “the hook” for engaging, and also the “tool” for empowering, hard-to-reach young people (5-18 years).
Originally a Kabul-based, Afghan NGO, Skateistan has since grown internationally, harnessing the power of skateboarding to grease-the-wheels of social change and development in Afghanistan, Cambodia and Pakistan; offering programmes providing marginalised youth groups with new opportunities for cross-cultural interaction, education, and personal empowerment.
The organisation has delivered indoor and outdoor skating facilities, inventing new spaces in which young people can come together and forge connections that “transcend social barriers”. Fifty-percent of attendees are “streetworking children”, and a remarkable forty-percent are girls. Here, in safe, non-political, supportive environments, youth groups of all ethnicities, religions, genders and socioeconomic backgrounds are empowered to “affect change on issues that are important to them.”
(Afghanistan’s Girl Skaters — Kabul 2012 fromSkateistanon Youtube)
In the fused spaces of skateparks and classrooms, the students become drivers of their own development, empowered to drop in on those training programmes they consider most important. In particular Skateistan supports skill development “in skateboarding, leadership, civic responsibility, multimedia, and creative arts”.
Experience shows that whilst many “come for skateboarding, they stay for education” before leaving, thanks to Skateistan’s approach to youth-led development, as young leaders equipped to help guide their communities towards social change and development.
All quotes, images and videos, unless otherwise stated, are taken from the official Skateistan website.
Featured Image Credit: Spitfire Wheels