ADDIS SKATEPA
Skateboarding is a huge global
industry, but there are still
places in the world that haven’t
really been touched by ollies,
kickflips and 50-50s to any
meaningful degree. In Ethiopia,
there isn’t even a skate shop
where kids can buy boards or
wheels, however, this has not
stopped a small group of skaters
from doing their best to keep
the flame burning. Recently, a
group called Make Life Skate
Life decided that Ethiopia’s
capital Addis Ababa needed a
skatepark.
I
n April 2016, Make Life
Skate Life and Ethiopia Skate
constructed Addis Skatepark
to provide the youth of
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with
a free-of-charge, safe, and
accessible place to skate. The
600m² concrete skatepark
was built in three weeks
by a team of 60 volunteer
skatepark builders from over
20 countries who worked with
local youth to teach them about
concrete skatepark construction.
The skatepark provides a
space to inspire creativity and
community togetherness through
skateboarding, accommodating the
growing demand for skateboarding
in a safe place in Ethiopia.
As the Make Life Skate Life NGO
has done with a number of other
projects around the world, a
crowdfunding campaign was
initiated to raise money for a park.
They met their target in thirty
days and then went looking for
volunteers to help build the park.
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africandesignmagazine.com