38 www.morzinesourcemagazine.com Skateistan The Power of Skate Interview by Chloe Hardy © andy buchanan #lovemorzine #lovelesgets #loveavoriaz
your source of information for <strong>Morzine</strong>, Les Gets & Avoriaz 39 <strong>Morzine</strong> has a short but committed history with skateboarding. In 2015 the town got a new community skate park, one that local residents had been campaigning for and raising money to build for years. The <strong>Morzine</strong> skate park is now a space that skaters, families and children share together, so imagine our stoke levels when we discovered that Skateistan, one of the most inspiring skate-based organisations in the world, would be coming to <strong>Morzine</strong> for their annual strategy meeting. 2009 - the early days of Skateistan. Now Skateistan students only skate indoors as the streets are too dangerous © andy buchanan © Jake Simkin For those not familiar with it, Skateistan is an award-winning non-profit organisation that combines skateboarding with creative education to empower children, and in particular young girls from low-income families in conflict and post-conflict zones. Its focus is on providing safe spaces where kids can learn, have fun, and express their creativity through a range of activities. Just one of Skateistan’s various initiatives is an accelerated learning programme to help kids re-enter the mainstream education system. Originally started on the streets of Kabul, Skateistan has built skate parks and educational facilities in two Afghan cities, as well as Johannesburg in South Africa and Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Plans for new projects are also underway in central Afghanistan and Jordan. So how did the team from an international NGO that operates in all four corners of the world end up in <strong>Morzine</strong>? Funny story. Tom, the owner of Chalet Fourmiliere along with his wife Alex, is a long-time volunteer for Skateistan, and had promised the team an invite when he realised his dream of “A lot of sports were seen as boys’ activities. Girls were told, ‘you’re not allowed to play soccer, that’s an activity for boys,’ but the skateboard was unique, it was new culturally” buying a chalet in the French Alps. “I’ve become very close with Tom and Alex and they’ve become super supporters of what we do,” Skateistan founder Oliver Percovich explained. “Tom has been offering incredible strategic advice for me and for the organisation over a number of years, he’s made really huge sacrifices and taken his holidays to fly to the other side of the world to volunteer with us.” And that ability to form relationships, develop communities and foster commitment is really what’s at the heart of Skateistan. But we’ll get to that later. So how did it all start? Originally from Melbourne, Ollie skated since the age of five, studied chemistry and owned an organic sourdough business, among other things, before moving to Afghanistan in 2007. “I brought a skateboard with me to Afghanistan,” he explains, “and when I skateboarded in the streets, kids were really interested in what I was doing and they wanted to try the skateboard out. It was girls as well as boys and that really surprised me, because I didn’t see girls doing other sports. And I realised it was a bit of a loophole because nobody had seen skateboarding before. A lot of sports were seen as boys’ activities. Girls were told, ‘you’re not allowed to play soccer, that’s an activity for boys,’ but the skateboard was unique, it was new culturally.” /<strong>Morzine</strong><strong>Source</strong>Magazine @<strong>Morzine</strong><strong>Source</strong> /<strong>Morzine</strong><strong>Source</strong>Magazine