Thanks to Skateistan supporter Aasmond Lok, Skateistan has opened a bank account in Norway to receive donations to the project. Bank account details on the “Support Us” page. This may even allow us to build before winter hits and keep the project on track. Stay tuned for how this turns out.
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The citizens of Essen, a city in the centre of the Ruhr Valley, one of Europe’s cultural boom regions, showed a heart for Skateistan on Saturday, when over 1000 Euros as well as boards and lots of skating equipment were donated during a fundraiser event hosted by Skateistan supporters Sonja Eller, Alexandra Bald and Mitran Kaul. Friends and supporters of Skateistan as well as over a hundred paying guests rocked the “Goethebunker”, one of Essen’s most “in” party locations till sweat was dripping from the ceiling. Young skaters seized the opportunity and skated the ramp and rail Skateistan had put up in the bunker while the rest of the crowd enjoyed cool drinks, four energetic live bands, four funky DJ sets and rocked the night away. Local sponsors had donated clothes and skating equipment, adding up to a value of over 1000 Euros, for a raffle held during the party. This was also a huge success – the first two prizes, two brand new skate board decks, were spontaneously and immediately donated to Skateistan by their winners. Donations were generous throughout and even youngsters who didn’t have any money to spend scraped together parts and old boards for their skating buddies in Kabul. Some limited edition 100%-climate neutral Skateistan-T-shirts are still available, please contact Skateistan if you are interested. The Essen fundraiser was an opportunity for Skateistan-Aficionados from all corners of Europe to get together, get to know each other and discuss further support of Skateistan in the future. As a next step, German Skateistan supporters will found a registered non-profit association that allows companies and individuals to make tax-deductible contributions towards Skateistan. This will also facilitate the acquisition of major sponsors in Europe. Many thanks to the following sponsors that made the event possible and so successful. iriedaily, United Skateboard Artists, Second son, Fabulous skate shop, Goethebunker, Continental clothing, Redbull, Bionade, 667 and Pizza Prego. If you couldn’t make it to Essen, see you at the next Skateistan party!
After four trips to the wood market in Quay Markaz, a scavenger hunt around Kabul for the right sized nails, and the partial destruction of a bed to obtain its headboard, we created a makeshift but nonetheless entertaining skatepark in our front yard. While doing a board slide across the bed headboard, Max injured his ankle. We’re all wishing him a speedy recovery and return to skateboarding.
Photos by Elissa Bogos
At long last, we received part of TSG’s generous donation! The shipment (one of a total of nine that will eventually arrive) contained womens protective gear (elbow and knee pads) and womens backpacks. For now, TSG’s banner will remain proudly displayed in our office until it is moved to its new and permanent home in our skate park.
Special thanks to Roman Pekar and Martin Liska for the photos.Â
Last week, Skateistan acquired a large plot of land in Bibi Mahrou Hill, a section of the Wazir Akhbar Khan district in Kabul. We are grateful to Ibrahim Arafee, German Development Service cameraman, who helped faciliate negotiations for the land with the Kabul Municipal Council and Parks Authority. Mr. Haji Habib, the head of the Parks Authority department held the land for us despite competitive bids from the Tajikistan Embassy and multi-million dollar telecommunications providers. Mr. Habib was supportive of the fact that all Skateistan staff work on a voluntary basis and expressed his faith in Skateistan’s aim to create a public space for the people of Kabul. Without the tireless assistance and good faith of Mr. Habib, our aquiring such a park would not have been possible.
The Swedish Embassy personnell kindly financed the earth-moving equipment, which allowed us to flatten the land and will subsequently allow us to lay down concrete. We’re hoping, with the support of donations, to finish the project by the end of the year. Wade Trevean, a designer from Convic Design prepared a draft plan for the park within a week, which was immediately translated into Dari. In addition to the outdoor concrete area, ideal for everything from skateboarding to volleyball to cricket, plans are also underway to construct an indoor skate park complete with toilets and showers. Several trees are situated on the left hand side of the park and it is in this grassy area that we plan to construct a playground for Afghan children.Â
And of course, what would skate park negotiations be without seemingly endless cups of Afghan tea and slices of watermelon from Northern Afghanistan?
Skateistan is immensely grateful for all the support we have received. What is particularly encouraging about this support is that the majority of it comes from women. Last month, Skateistan received a large private donation from two women working in Afghanistan. Erin Chatelain of Betty Magazine, a Canadian monthly publication targeting female skateboarders, contacted Skateistan to express her support for the project. Furthermore, we are thankful to all those who donated funds for Skateistan at a farewell party in Kabul for EU political adviser, Kristoffer Nilaus Tarp. At Skateistan’s weekly skate lessons in the Macroroyan district of Kabul, often more girls turn up than boys. Halisa, an 8 year old girl who has been dubbed the “star skateboarder” by other skaters, smiles as she glides across the empty fountain in blue sandals. “I’ve been coming since the beginning”, she says with a large grin. ”Skateboarding is so interesting and different to me.”Zohra, 12 years old, speaks in clear English. She is the older sister of Fatina, a 10 year old who turned up in Macroroyan after hearing the sound of skateboards and a large crowd. Most of the girls who show up for skate lessons are younger. “I want to skate”, says Zohra, “but there are too many boys here. It’s not right for me. If it was all girls, I would be more willing to participate.” Zohra’s best friend, Meena, also 12 years old, agrees. ”I also face the same problem, because I’d like very much to skate but only with other girls.” She adds, “please get me a skateboard so I can practice myself. I can’t buy one in Afghanistan.”Fatina takes a break from skating to sit on her borrowed board in front of a garden of sunflowers and roses. “In the beginning, skateboarding was very difficult. But its getting easier each time I do it. I like it because it’s interesting and a challenge.” When asked about what her parents think about their daughter skateboarding, Fatina says both her mother and father are very happy. “They see it as a good thing. My mom especially is so happy. It’s very good for our health.” she says. Donations for Kabul’s female skateboarders can be made through the “Support us” section of the Skateistan website.Photos by Elissa Bogos
Two weeks ago, Skateistan met with reporters from Deutsche Welle, a German television channel that broadcasts worldwide in five languages. The interview was conducted in Macrorayan, where many of Skateistan’s classes take place. In addition to the usual crowd of students, a new face emerged on the scene. Siar Ahmadi, a 16 year old Afghan who has been residing in Islamabad, Pakistan, approached us with his skateboard. Having learned of Skateistan from a street cleaner who had seen the classes taking place, Siar brought his board to Macrorayan and helped the Skateistan crew teach classes. Three years ago, after seeing an internet video of Rodney Mullen, Siar taught himself to skate. In Islamabad, he skates alone. “Many older people don’t like to see me skateboarding, but younger people are more encouraging. Some elders see skateboarding as a departure from Islamic culture and a sign of growing Western influence in the Muslim world. Yet, my 13 year old cousin has asked me to teach him how to skate.” Siar admits he never expected to find fellow skateboarders when he returned to Kabul this summer. “I was so surprised and happy to see people skateboarding in Kabul”, he says.Â
It is very encouraging that there are around six girls that turn up regularly to the dish sessions to skate. The first female skaters do things a little differently than the boys preferring to pivot off the nose instead of the tail and skating in high heels rather than sandals. While all the boys are waiting patiently or impatiently for a turn on the remaining 8 boards, the girls happily share their skateboard between themselves and unsurprisingly they don’t let any boys near their prized skateboard. Contrary to other media reporting girl power is alive and well in Kabul.
Both Oliver and Travis bought new boards over in their luggage to boost the total amount of skateboards in Afghanistan to 14 boards! The boys were very excited to get the boards donated by Steve Lightfoot as their current boards were decaying under the harsh Afghan conditions. The boys went straight to work cleaning and jazzing up their boards with new graphics. Check it out here.
It was a happy day for us when we found the car parking and we thought that it’s a good place for us that we can practice till we get our own skate park. For weeks Travis and us skated there and we learnt a lot in this place with smooth clean concrete. Then Sharna came back from Australia and she was so excited to see the car park we went there with her to see that place. She likes it because it was a good flat place and of course it was secure place for us. We were happy thing for us was that we were not alone to skate there we were teaching the security guards the shopkeepers and everybody who was coming there and we had communication with each other and we have guys that want to learn.
But the happy days became sad days. On the night of the pool party we met a German guy who was also very interested to skate with us. So I called the security guards that we are coming to skate and he told me that its not possible to skate there anymore….. I didn’t under stand what had happened, so I called Hamid and told him to go and check it out. Munir and Hamid went there and the security guard told them they reject us because the Boss (Police commander) said that this people cannot come here anymore because it’s not safe. They asked him if we did something wrong or did they want us to give them bakhshish (bribe) to enter the car park. The guard told us that nothing is wrong and bakhshish would not work.
We also talked to the owner of that car parking and he also rejected us, but that it was not his decision. He said that Police is not allowing me to give you permission, he wished he could let us skate but it was out of his power.
Since we started skating we have found good friends who really want to help us to build skate park in Afghanistan so that we can continue this sport. But just because of some people that may be jealous we are always stopped from having fun. We are not loosing hope and our mission to have our own, safe place to skate in Afghanistan.
If security was the real issue with the carpark, then we can tell that Afghanistan is not a place where you can have fun and it’s not a place where you can spend your holidays. Every step is a danger, but we don’t let this control our lives and stop us from enjoying this excellent sport.
Best regards
Nabil and Hameed
