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Children of conflict zone jump aboard for Skateistan
* Andra Jackson
* January 8, 2009
The Skateistan project introduces Afghan children to skateboarding.
SINCE Sharna Nolan took up skateboarding 11 years ago, the sport has taken her from the smooth pavements of Fitzroy to the pock-marked streets of conflict-ridden Kabul.
For her, it started as a means of transport, but she also found it provided a creative outlet.
It became a case of "have skateboard, will travel" including a stint as Young Australian Ambassador in China.
Whether in Istanbul, Rome, Budapest or Beijing, she found skating tapped her into an instant skateboarding "brotherhood or sisterhood".
So, naturally, when Ms Nolan, 31, took up a 12-month appointment to the Afghanistan Reconstruction and Evaluation Unit in 2006, her skateboard went with her.
But in war-ravaged Kabul, she found that aside from security concerns about a Westerner being out on the streets, its streets were too badly bomb-damaged to lend themselves to gliding along on a skateboard. She had to be content with riding within the security confines of the compound where she lived.
The compound's security guards watched in amazement. This was something they had never seen, and they asked if she could teach them skateboarding.
Enchanted by the experience, they asked if they could bring their children to try it out.
As word spread, Afghan soldiers and policemen also became eager recruits.
Speaking from Kabul yesterday, Ms Nolan said her only stipulation was that they take off their guns.
She then asked her partner Oliver Perocovich, 34, of St Andrews, to bring an extra skateboard when he joined her.
With just three skateboards, they began teaching the sport in schools. Ordering seven more skateboards, they trained a group of eager Afghan assistants, aged 18 to 23.
But where to skate? A disused fountain in the suburb of Macroroyan was the solution.
Ms Nolan said of the eager pupils, with as many girls as boys: "Skateboarding has given them a chance to be children and to smile."
The sport has taken root so strongly in Kabul that the couple and their team of volunteers, who call their project Skateistan, plan to start a school with $70,000 raised so far and another $70,000 that has still to be found.
Land has been donated by Afghans in three provinces for indoor recreational centres with facilities for traditional Afghan sports as well as skateboarding.
Ms Nolan now works for the CSIRO in Darwin but travels regularly to Kabul.
Mr Perocovich, the project's director and former company owner, said the project had the support of Afghan authorities and the Canadian and Norwegian embassies. The German Foreign Ministry had donated $US70,000.
The only financial donation from Australia has been $200.
A fund-raiser for Skateistan will be held at Bondi, Sydney, in February.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/children-of-conflict-zone-jump-aboard-for-skateistan-20090107-7bxc.html
i have jumped on board skateistan to help out too, (as has renton millar.) we will be hoping to raise public awareness regarding this astonishingly amazing movement. this is easily one of the most important things to ever happen inside skateboarding.
its either the wind or this article that just gave me chills.
good on everyone involved in the project, it gives hope from around the world to these poor kids.
nice to hear a positive thing from skateboarding in the news, good on them
Nice and all, but this stuff has been going on for many years, in skateboarding and just about every other sport.
I can just imagine the exploding skateboarder trick
Don't mean to sound harsh but that place is fucked up ....the worlds 2nd largest producer of heroin, finest hash and af/pak weed, automatic weapons everywhere and war all around you'd need the united nations to guard the skatepark hehe can you imagine it you would have to have balls to ride a skateboard there!! surviving alone is good
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Skateistan
sk 09:06 08/Jan/09
Children of conflict zone jump aboard for Skateistan
* Andra Jackson
* January 8, 2009
The Skateistan project introduces Afghan children to skateboarding.
SINCE Sharna Nolan took up skateboarding 11 years ago, the sport has taken her from the smooth pavements of Fitzroy to the pock-marked streets of conflict-ridden Kabul.
For her, it started as a means of transport, but she also found it provided a creative outlet.
It became a case of "have skateboard, will travel" including a stint as Young Australian Ambassador in China.
Whether in Istanbul, Rome, Budapest or Beijing, she found skating tapped her into an instant skateboarding "brotherhood or sisterhood".
So, naturally, when Ms Nolan, 31, took up a 12-month appointment to the Afghanistan Reconstruction and Evaluation Unit in 2006, her skateboard went with her.
But in war-ravaged Kabul, she found that aside from security concerns about a Westerner being out on the streets, its streets were too badly bomb-damaged to lend themselves to gliding along on a skateboard. She had to be content with riding within the security confines of the compound where she lived.
The compound's security guards watched in amazement. This was something they had never seen, and they asked if she could teach them skateboarding.
Enchanted by the experience, they asked if they could bring their children to try it out.
As word spread, Afghan soldiers and policemen also became eager recruits.
Speaking from Kabul yesterday, Ms Nolan said her only stipulation was that they take off their guns.
She then asked her partner Oliver Perocovich, 34, of St Andrews, to bring an extra skateboard when he joined her.
With just three skateboards, they began teaching the sport in schools. Ordering seven more skateboards, they trained a group of eager Afghan assistants, aged 18 to 23.
But where to skate? A disused fountain in the suburb of Macroroyan was the solution.
Ms Nolan said of the eager pupils, with as many girls as boys: "Skateboarding has given them a chance to be children and to smile."
The sport has taken root so strongly in Kabul that the couple and their team of volunteers, who call their project Skateistan, plan to start a school with $70,000 raised so far and another $70,000 that has still to be found.
Land has been donated by Afghans in three provinces for indoor recreational centres with facilities for traditional Afghan sports as well as skateboarding.
Ms Nolan now works for the CSIRO in Darwin but travels regularly to Kabul.
Mr Perocovich, the project's director and former company owner, said the project had the support of Afghan authorities and the Canadian and Norwegian embassies. The German Foreign Ministry had donated $US70,000.
The only financial donation from Australia has been $200.
A fund-raiser for Skateistan will be held at Bondi, Sydney, in February.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/children-of-conflict-zone-jump-aboard-for-skateistan-20090107-7bxc.html
morgs 09:10 08/Jan/09
i have jumped on board skateistan to help out too, (as has renton millar.) we will be hoping to raise public awareness regarding this astonishingly amazing movement. this is easily one of the most important things to ever happen inside skateboarding.
nathan. 09:49 08/Jan/09
its either the wind or this article that just gave me chills.
good on everyone involved in the project, it gives hope from around the world to these poor kids.
the colonel 14:09 08/Jan/09
nice to hear a positive thing from skateboarding in the news, good on them
Choder Boy 14:39 08/Jan/09
Nice and all, but this stuff has been going on for many years, in skateboarding and just about every other sport.
gnash 22:17 11/Jan/09
I can just imagine the exploding skateboarder trick
Don't mean to sound harsh but that place is fucked up ....the worlds 2nd largest producer of heroin, finest hash and af/pak weed, automatic weapons everywhere and war all around you'd need the united nations to guard the skatepark hehe can you imagine it you would have to have balls to ride a skateboard there!! surviving alone is good
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