Skateistan

Skateistan is a non-governmental, non-political, non-religious and non-discriminatory Afghan organization that offers Afghan youth new opportunities for recreation and life skill development. We are committed to building relationships between youth that transcend traditional divisions based on gender, ethnicity, socio-economic circumstance and nationality. Through sporting achievement, we seek to invoke pride in young men and women and to offer positive, healthy, vice-free, Muslim youth role models to the western world. While we work with students aged between 6-17 years old from a range of ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, specifically, we seek to engage with urban poor children and girls. Managed by a team of Afghans and international volunteers, our skateboarding schools be provide a supportive environment that encourages young people to be motivated, confident and take ownership of the problems they will inherit as Afghanistan’s future leaders. Funding from the Kindle Project has helped us build the Skateistan skate park in Kabul, Afghanistan. This skate park is the largest indoor sports facility in the country and provides the children of Kabul with a variety of benefits including:

• A safe, supervised and indoor sporting facility
• Training in skateboarding, computer skills, basic public health knowledge and languages
• Revival of Afghan traditional identity through cultural instruction, games and pastimes
• A supportive environment for life skills, youth leadership/mentoring and communications training

Skateistan’s pragmatic approach to Afghanistan’s problems has made significant progress in providing positive opportunities for youth, and its programs provide the foundation upon which Afghanistan can grow as a more harmonious and educated society.