by The Editors on October 15, 2018
The Tony Hawk Foundation has awarded international youth charity Skateistan a $50,000 grant to support the organization’s skateboarding and educational programs.
Skateistan operates five schools in South Africa, Cambodia, and Afghanistan, and combines skateboarding instruction with core subjects to inspire youth to learn and to be active. This is the second grant awarded to Skateistan by the Tony Hawk Foundation. The first was a $100,000 gift in 2015 and represented the launch of THF’s International Program. The current grant renews the foundation’s commitment to enriching the lives of youth through skateboarding, both in the U.S. and abroad.
For more news from the THF please click the link.
[Link: Tony Hawk Foundation]
by The Editors on September 10, 2012
The skateboard outreach program in Kabul, Afghanistan, Skateistan, lost four kids (including one of their skate instructors, Khorshid pictured right) this weekend (September 8, 2012) when a teenage suicide bomber attacked near NATO headquarters at the entrance of Camp Eggers, according to a story on NPR.com.
“From the start, Khorshid (whose name translates to ‘happy’ in English) stood apart with a tough, cheeky and sensitive personality, smiling no matter what troubles she had to deal with day-to-day,” the program reports. “She knew what she wanted in life and wasn’t afraid to fight for it despite having more responsibilities and sorrows than a child should ever have.” . . Nawab, 17, also died. He was one of the first boys in the program and was known as having one of best kickflips. . . Parwana was Khorshid’s younger sister. She was just 8-years-old. Assad, the program says, was not a skater but he was family and well known at the skatepark.
The Taliban was reportedly targeting the “CIA” in the blast. Our thoughts are with the families of the four kids who were killed and with the entire Skateistan organization.
[Link: NPR and Skateistan]
by The Editors on October 18, 2010
When we first mentioned Skateistan on our website back in June of 2008 it was just three Australian skateboarders who wanted to help improve he lives of Afghanistan’s children by teaching them to skateboard in an empty Kabul fountain. Since then Skateistan has grown to become an international organization (NGO) with a large indoor skateboard park in Kabul, an award winning documentary film, and a school with nearly 300 Afghan kids (boys and girls) enrolled.
Dvidshub.com checked in with Skateistan recently to cover a skateboard donation by members of the International Security Assistance Force and delivered a story of hope through skateboarding from one of the roughest cities in the world.
“From the very start, kids from many different ethnic and social backgrounds were being brought together through skateboarding, and Oliver had the idea to create a school where education was offered alongside skateboard lessons, with the hope that trust-building and self-confidence would be the result,” Percovich said. . . “It was the motivation from the kids that got Oliver thinking about doing something on a larger scale with skateboarding, through using the activity to bring kids from all different backgrounds together and provide interactive education that would build a mini-community for youth in Kabul,” Bader said. “Those initial skate sessions were the foundations for Skateistan.”
Click here for more coverage on Boardistan or the link below for the rest of the Story.
[Link: Dvidshub.com]
by The Editors on December 29, 2009
Skateistan, the organization that teaches Afghan young people through skateboarding has open its first skateboard park and school on Tuesday December 29, 2009, according to a story in The National Post.
“Skateistan” started two years ago in a dried-up fountain in the heart of the Afghan capital, when two Australians with three skateboards started teaching a small group of fascinated kids. . . Now dozens of boys and girls from across all social classes can mix in a giant indoor park that looks like a cross between a military hangar and an urban hangout, festooned with the names of fashionable skating brands that have sponsored the park.
It is amazing what can be done with some skateboards and a dream. For more on the story click here.
[Link: National Post]
by The Editors on June 10, 2009
Skateistan, the organization that is using skateboarding to help teach peace and personal empowerment to the children of Afghanistan, is now building out a skatepark/classroom facility that will include “rooms for launguage and music classes,” according to a story in The Toronto Star.
The organization in October asked the Canadian government for $5,000 and was given $15,000. The German embassy has invested $140,000 and Denmark has contributed $125,000. Percovich has raised enough to build a 1,750-square-metre indoor skate park, a $200,000 steel-roofed building that will be completed this August. He hopes to attract hundreds of children and teenagers.
But it’s not all happiness. Some see the school as teaching a “western indulgence” and one girl has been reportedly beaten by her brothers for skateboarding.
[Link: The Toronto Star]
by The Editors on March 10, 2009
On Thursday March 12, The Copenhagen Skatepark will hold a fundraiser to help support Project Skateistan the organization that we mentioned back in June of 2008 that is spreading peace in Afghanistan through skateboarding.
Worldfamous Trentemöller and many more music acts are supporting the project by playing for free on this evening. A lot of very talented artists among them Olafsur Eliasson has donated art for our beneficiary art auction. Famous chefs from Gasthaus4Experiment in Germany are coming to cook extraordinary food, skaters are coming from all over Europe to participate in our skatecompetition, where Eastpack has already donated 4 x 1000€ for price money that will go directly to Skateistan!
[Link: Skateistan-CPH09 via Club Mumble]
by The Editors on June 30, 2008
Apparently, the latest new craze in Kabul is not Kite Running. It’s skateboarding, according to a story in The Sydney Morning Herald.
Skateboarding is the latest teen craze to hit Kabul. It was started by three Australians who see it as a way to help young Afghans and redefine the way rich foreigners interact with them.
“They’re born naturals,” said Oliver Percovich, watching a dozen kids whiz around the fountain outside an upmarket restaurant. “They’ve got more balance than Western kids, mainly because they’re not scared to fall and get up again.”
Oddly, the three Aussies have called their skateboarding introduction project “skateistan.” Click the link for more on how skateboarding is changing lives in Afganistan.
[Link: Sydney Morning Herald]
by The Editors on March 24, 2022
This was going to be the Ides of March news listers. Then the Holi lister, now it’s just the late-in-March list of news stories that caught our eye and might be of interest to you. That’s all. No snide asides, no out-of-context comments, no misinformed snark, and no 200 word headlines. Just links to stories that are at the top of the news tonight.
Follow the jump for all the stories.
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by The Editors on January 3, 2022
It’s a New Year. Time to bury those old habits, get out the list, and start working toward the new you in 2022. Or, just grab another Indian Summer Latte and scroll through this list of stories that you should have read last year. We’d put them in order of importance, but that would take way too much time and it would eliminate the joy you’ll find discovering a story you didn’t know you wanted to read. Take it away.
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by The Editors on November 8, 2021
Lots going on here in the world of news headline lists. This one is a big one because, well, we’ve been doing other stuff lately. But here it is anyway. Sharks, COVID, and all that jazz.
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