Ethiopian Skate Campaign Wants to Make Skateboarding Popular In Ethiopia

A group of young skateboarders in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, want to bring skateboarding to the rest of their country through their group called Ethiopia Skate.

In this video, made for the group’s IndieGoGo campaign, you can see young men, boys and little girls all enjoying a good ride through Ethiopia’s terrain.

According to the IndieGoGo campaign, the group’s goals are:

1. Build a mobile mini ramp to move around Addis Ababa and teach children the basics of skateboarding with.

2. Pass out at least 100 skateboards to youth organizations and local children.

3. Build Ethiopia’s first skatepark. To do so, the group first needs to acquire land and funding, to get approval for construction. In the meantime, they are working with a German organization, Make Life Skate Life, to plan and develop the actual park.

While still in its beginning stages, Ethiopia Skate is similar in concept to other nonprofit skate development programs like Skatistan (located Afghanistan) and Amigo Skate Cuba. The two existing programs have been particularly successful because skateboarding, like soccer, requires little equipment and infrastructure, which makes it ideal for introduction to underdeveloped countries.

Fusion reached out to Ethiopia Skate to further discuss their plans and is awaiting response.