Using skateboarding as an unconventional icebreaker, a non-profit is bringing education to girls, low-income children and the internally displaced in Afghanistan and elsewhere, writes Keith J Fernandez.
Skating changed the life of Madina, a 12-year-old from Kabul. She can now read and write, and her self-confidence has skyrocketed over the year she has attended programmes at a school run by Skateistan. The non-profit organisation aims to empower children through the unorthodox mix of skateboarding and classroom lessons.
“I can [now] write the names of others and read it,” Madina, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, says. “Before joining Skateistan, I could not dare to stand up and talk confidently, but now I am a totally different person. Now I feel proud of myself because I got first rank in the first-grade exam!”
Over the past decade, Skateistan has worked with more than 7,000 children in Afghanistan, says Claire Dugan, the organisation’s deputy executive director. Approximately 2,500 active students are enrolled across its Skate Schools.
The organisation launched in 2007, when Australian skateboarder Oliver Percovich took a job in Kabul. He skated through the city’s streets for entertainment and often attracted curious children, who would follow along and ask for rides. In response to this interest, he began organising informal skate sessions in a disused fountain, soon noticing this was a great way to break down social barriers.
“Because skateboarding was completely new in Afghanistan, there were no rules around who could join in, and Oliver noticed that both boys and girls were skating, that children from different economic backgrounds and different ethnicities were skating together,” Dugan says, speaking from the NGO’s Berlin headquarters. Skateistan grew out of those sessions as a ‘grassroots-for-development’ programme, and the first Skate School opened in Kabul in 2009. It was the biggest indoor sports facility in Afghanistan.
EVERYONE IS WELCOME
Today, its creative, arts-based education programmes aim to help children in Afghanistan (in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif), Cambodia (Phnom Penh) and South Africa (Johannesburg) shape a better future for themselves. In particular, the charity focuses on reaching children from groups which are often excluded from educational opportunities, such as girls, children with disabilities, internal refugees and those from low-income backgrounds. Alongside ollies, nollies and fakies, Skateistan’s programmes follow both formal mandates and real-life topics, including human rights, gender issues and recycling.
The NGO’s biggest programme today is called Skate and Create, where an arts-based curriculum is combined with skateboarding sessions.
“Skate and Create is designed to help children explore their creativity and expand their critical thinking skills and to help children see themselves as potential change makers,” Dugan continues. “In 2018, 48 global lesson plans were developed from the most popular and most useful lessons, and all our students now follow this curriculum.”
Especially popular lessons include Recycled Gardens, where children learn about the life cycle of plants and the importance of reducing waste and make their own flower pots; Royal Throne, which teaches students the importance of having self-esteem and appreciating the talents of others; and Amazing Inventions, which covers the most significant scientific developments in their countries and how they work.
In Afghanistan, Skateistan also runs a Back-to-School programme that follows the first three grades of the Afghan National Curriculum and is recognised by the country’s ministry of education. It targets children who are out of school, such as those internally displaced by local conflicts, and allows them to catch up and subsequently enrol in public school. About two-thirds (60 students) of the NGO’s students at its Mazar-e-Sharif school are internally displaced, Dugan says.
GIRL POWER
From the start, an overriding aim has been to get more girls involved.
“This form of girls’ empowerment is right at the heart of what we do at Skateistan,” Dugan says. “In a country where girls are often discouraged from taking part in any physical activity, skateboarding proved to be an exception, and we make special effort to encourage girls to participate. This includes girls-only days at the Skate School and employing female staff and role models. Skateboarding is now the biggest sport for girls in Afghanistan.”
Today, about 51% of Skateistan students are girls. Many, like Madina, only joined because a community outreach officer visited their homes.
“The Community Educator from Skateistan told my mom, if you don’t want your daughter to remain illiterate, then send her to Skateistan,” Madina says.
As she and her schoolmates will attest, once the wheels of education begin to turn, there is no going back.