SKATEBOARDING IN AFGHANISTAN Unlikely as it may sound, girls are now skateboarding in Kabul, Afghanistan. Thanks to the efforts of intrepid Aus- tralian skateboarder Oliver Percovich, Afghanistan has a skateboard centre, where hundreds of young people come each week to perfect their board skills. Afghanistan might not be the type
of place most people would live out of choice, but Percovich chose to base him- self there. “I was excited by the country,” he
says. “I liked that I could learn things about myself through existing in such a difficult environment.”
Issue 1 2013 © cybertrek 2013
He says he started the organisation
without any particular plan, simply with the intention of marrying two interests of working with children and skate- boarding. Initially Percovich worked with chil-
dren on the street, but his dreams of opening a centre manifested when the Afghan National Olympic Committee gave a land lease donation for a skate- boarding centre in Kabul, helped by funding from the Canadian, Norwegian, Danish and German governments. Now Skateistan is gearing up to open
its second centre this spring, in Mazar- e-Sharif, which will be able to work with up to 1,000 students per week. The
charity has also started a street pro- gramme in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The centres give children education,
valuable skills and provide a safe haven. The aim is that the students who go through the programme will then take ownership and lead the expansion of Skateistan. Since 2009 it has provided 28 jobs to Afghan youths from streetwork- ing backgrounds. As 68 per cent of the Afghan population is under 25 years old and 50 per cent is aged under 16 years, providing opportunities for youths of all backgrounds is essential. However, it is a challenging environ-
ment in which to operate. Two tragic suicide attacks in Kabul led to staff and
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