Dogtown in Affy :)

I found a really great video on the Skateistan project on Youtube.


Skateistan: Kickflips in Kabul
In Western mainstream media, most young Afghans are portrayed in a particularly negative light. And likewise, in Afghanistan, most young people only hear negative things about the West and Western culture. Working to create a positive voice for both sides is Skateistan, the first co-educational skateboard school in Afghanistan. Founded in 2007, the school offers boys and girls between 5 and 17 years free skateboarding lessons and so much more.



An excerpt from the video:

Aside from skateboarding, Skateistan aims to teach children solid life skills and help with social interaction. The kids are just very keen to get involved with something. It wasn't necessarily the actual skateboarding, but focusing on an activity, giving them something to do that is positive. At the moment in the media, there isn't anything positive written or spoken about Afghanistan. You only hear negative stories about America, about oil, about Taliban, about war. So Skateistan is trying to create something positive in Afghanistan. There doesn't seem to be any animosity about this being a Western Sport...It's very important to have fun. Skateboarding is just pure fun. It's noting else. It's just pure fun...fun is really important. Skateistan aims to encourage this.
Architecture for Humanity and Nike recently announced that Skateistan will be the first recipient of their GameChangers fund. According to Architecture for Humanity, Skateistan will use the funds to build Kabul’s first indoor skate park at Ghazi Stadium. Australian firm Convic Design will contribute to the design for the outdoor area around the facility and the indoor skate park will be built to international standards by IOU Ramps from Germany. Construction began last week, and is expected to be completed by fall 2009. (SK)