Correspondent Graeme Smith from The Globe and Mail, Canada’s largest circulation national newspaper came and saw a different side to Afghanistan than he usually covers. Mr Smith recently won an online journalism award for the series Talking to the Taliban.  The story of what he saw in Macrorayan, Kabul ran on page 3 of last Saturdays edition and can be found here. The article prompted many Canadians to contact Skateistan and ask how they can support. Our paypal button will be up on the site in the near future for online donations and we will soon be able to receive tax-free donations through an organisation called the Creative Visions Foundation.  We will post news about this as soon as the Creative Visions Foundation are able to collect donations on our behalf.
Monthly Archive for September, 2008
Titus is a skateboarding company that has always given back to skateboarding and invested in youth development. Now we are pleased to announce that they are collecting second hand skateboards and skateboarding equipment for Skateistan in all of their shops throughout Germany from now until November 30th 2008.
Titus is working in conjunction with DHL who will ship all donated gear to Afghanistan. This is a really exciting development for Skateistan and if you know of anyone in Germany ask them to donate at their local Titus shop and pass on the details to their friends about this fantastic initiative.
After communicating with for the last month and a half with veteran skateboarder Boy Ipoh and recently Wan Kedah from the NGO skatemalaysia, they have now become a partner organisation. It is very important for us to have links to skateboarders in other Muslim countries, as it will help with acceptance of skateboarding in Afghanistan. The Malaysian skateboarders have also expressed interest to come over as instructors as well as collect equipment for the project. We wish them luck with their fundraising efforts and sincerely hope they can manage to send some instructors over here.
If you are a skateboarder in another Islamic country we would like to hear from you and your experiences.
Today we celebrated International Day of Peace with a skate session at Macrorayan attended by many onlookers from the neighborhood. We plastered the blue stickers showing a dove for peace all over the fountain, the skateboards and our clothes. Skateboarding is definitely accepted by the community in Macrorayan, Kabul and the community think that we are initiating a path for peace through having foreigners and the local children interacting in a way rarely seen in Kabul. Together with a live interview on BBC radio today with Mirwais Mohsen and Oliver Percovich, Skateistan spread the word that skateboarding  can link parts of the world together that rarely even talk. Ping pong diplomacy worked for US-Sino relations in the past, so there is no reason why skateboarding can’t achieve the same for the current Muslim-West divide.
Skateistan has a new video on the Time.com website which can be viewed here. Check it out!
An anonymous Skateistan supporter has just donated 2000 Euros to help build a skate facility for us before winter. We are extremely lucky to have such supporters, who not only donate much needed funds but who are continuously looking for new ways to create contacts, spread the word and assist us in pushing the boundaries of what Skateistan can achieve. We have many supporters in Afghanistan and around the world who make this project possible. Skateistan thanks each and everyone of them and we are excited about what we will achieve over the next few months with such talented and generous people behind the project.
This morning at at the Parks Authority offices in Kabul, Skateistan was informed that the land donated to the project to build Afghanistan’s first skateboarding school was in fact being taken back since we hadn’t been able to build anything on the site yet. The site has been now been sold to the Kuwaiti Goverment who plan to build their embassy on the site. Despite the enormous efforts of the fundraisers in Germany and around the world, sales of t-shirts and prints in Kabul and donations recieved via our website it was never enough to start work on the land or came just a little too late. Site works required would have cost about $2000 to initiate which would have secured the land for Skateistan. We do however have other sites available to us to build on. The second Kabul location is not quite as central but still has excellent potential since it is situated within a park and is near to schools and other sporting facilities. Hopefully someone comes “on board” soon as a major donor and we can build an indoor skateboarding facility on this land before winter arrives.
