At one point I wrote about a craze that was covering Afghanistan and it was cricket. Lately a new crazy has arisen among the children in Afghanistan. The project was started in Kabul by a four wheel loving, Australian named Oliver Percovich. This new craze includes speed, air, and of course an escape from the war torn life in Kabul. The new favorite thing among the children in Kabul is skateboarding.
Oliver originally went to Kabul with a dream of creating peace through the sports of skateboarding. And that is exactly what he did. In 2007 Oliver set up Skateistan when he arrived in Kabul with only 3 skateboards. Since then his operation has grown with close to 330 kids riding regularly. Skateboarding has grown so big that kids now ride at a skateboarding school and an educational NGO’s (non government organization) indoor skate park.
However Oliver’s dream has grown beyond what he had imagined. His shop, Skateistan, has been trying to help educate the children as well as build trust between the Afghan children of different ethnicities. This is the perfect escape for the children because they have grown up only knowing about fighting going on or some international troops occupying the country. Also, suspicions and grudges are common between ethnic groups. For the children they are able to get away from that daily life and experience the burst of speed and movement that skating has to offer.
A big advantage of the skateboarding school is that it offers the children a chance to “relax, train, read, paint,” in general the children are given the ability to just feel free. It also offers a safe haven, because many of the school are targeted by the Taliban especially the schools for girls.
Many of the workers for Skateistan are convinced that education of the children is the way to a brighter future in Afghanistan. About half of the population in Afghanistan is age 25 or younger. And the main thing they want to teach the kids is to build trust between Afghans and an understanding between ethnicities. Skateistan is perfect because anyone from a child soldier to a son of a government official can meet and relate to each other.
Everything having to do with the project is free. In addition to skateboarding the kids take classes in English, Dari, painting, poetry, and can even take puppetry. Although the classes do not seem very difficult mentally, the classes taught are meant to instill the ideals of finding the beauty in everything. This in turn can then be applied to fellow citizens and other kids. Another interesting thing about this project is that it teaches both girls and boys. However they get taught on separate days, but in a place where teaching girl is a physical risk Skateistan is trying to overcome the norm to create a better life.
With a project as successful as this the future for young generation looks bright as they are learning to embrace their differences early.Nathan Gleason
Nathan, this is interesting, but perhaps not of central interest. I would love to see more about this youth bulge though. How do the demographics of Afghanistan come into play when thinking about the prospects for a peaceful Afghanistan in the coming 10, 15, 20 years?
ReplyDelete