Skateboarding has done so much for me
to have this sort of attitude and outlook on life
so I thought it'd be a really beneficial thing
especially considering the conflicts at the moment in Palestine
to give these kids a similar sort of positive outlook
with skateboarding
So there were four skateboarders volunteers
It was Luke, Martin Harry, and then myself
and Sam
The skatepark a small area set up
to try and match
the obsession with skateboarding that some of the kids out there had
and to get them some of the equipment
and basically we went out to Palestine to teach kids to skate
with a skate park
Me and Harry came kind of late
in terms of the progression of the whole project
I heard about it fairly last minute
so we only spent three weeks there
so we were basically in the teaching stage
after the building was done
At the start it was a bit ramshackle
The kids were all just going at once
First few sessions with the kids were crazy
in a good way
they were sort of hyped on skating
It was awesome but it was kind of hard to deal with
The kids were quite short tempered
and didn't have a lot of sort of basic manners
like sharing, caring for one another
They just want to be roughhoused
Like, they're being so stubborn
and mad
They go crazy when they see the boards and the pads coming in
and they just rush over
At the start they were like, you know
didn't know what to make of it
And they probably didn't really trust us or anything
Now they see we just want to skate and roll around, it's cool
I don't know, after a few lessons they were into us
but at the start, like I said they were like
"who the hell are these guys?"
Because it's, especially visual based interaction
nothing verbal about this
so you have to show them tricks and maneuvers
completely through a sort of visceral sense
so that you can use your hands to show them
You can't describe it to them
You have to literally use your body
and then perhaps perform a couple in front of them
so they can understand the motions
It actually was a success
Kids learn some basic maneuvers before leaving
and hopefully that's enough to sort of get the ball rolling
Just hang around Martin and he sings a lot of stupid songs
And they get super hyped
They just feed off that and then it's cool
I just normally sing Palestinian songs and they get really hyped on it
And then just start singing some songs that we know
And then they get really hyped as well
And then just kind of show them props
They love props
and just little tricks with your hands and stuff like that
And just skating around doing tricks
They kind of get hyped on that
It's a good way to relate to them
Like we don't speak the language
but just trying to have a laugh with them
and just skating around they seem to get along with you
Eventually some kids like Muhammad
especially he shreds
and they've got the hang of timing each other on the rounds
say ten minutes pumping up and down
dropping in like you want to do
and then they swapped
There were a lot of crocodile tears between [goers]
But they definitely progressed in terms of manners to each other
and they just loved the culture of skating
and [inaudible] you go and backing each other up
rather than being competition so being stoked on each other
It was good to see kids being stoked
to other kids who were doing stuff
That was one of the raddest things ever
Even, maybe even better than seeing the kids learn to drop in
Seeing the other kids happy that the other kid dropped in
was awesome
Charlie Davis, the guy who started SkatePal
spent most of his time just dealing with anything
that was awkward about getting supplies to build parks
or information that was lost in translation
They didn't get the go ahead to build the third skate park
In my eyes that shouldn't have a huge effect on the project
especially considering how successful skateboarding is taking off in Ramallah
The project has been completely successful
due to like Charlie's efforts
and you can tell his heart has been in the project since day one
He's dedicated so much time towards this whole idea
I mean, because of Charlie we were able to build two
really, well, three legitimate objects at the youth center before leaving
Whenever he had time he would be
like the Ramallah youth club
with us helping to build ramps and board racks and stuff like that
He's basically busy all the time
The day to day life here is pretty gnarly
Like, you know with all the situation in Gaza
and the stuff they have to do
I don't know, it seems like a lot of unemployment
It's just a bit somber around here
So like, it's not much fun
There's a story of when Luke and Martin
in Zebabdeh, when they met the guy who killed his daughter
because she was playing with Muslim children
in a Christian neighborhood
That was, yeah
hard to hear
Talking to Adam
He was the guy who got shot through the knee
when he was picking up a stone at a protest
He's an intelligent guy and he's really kind
and seemed super happy to know that he just got shot in the leg
for protesting, was insane
Their behavior does improve
Like they show you a bit more respect
and there's definitely some kids improving
In Ramallah you have kids who are dropping in
like they can pump up and down that ramp fine
In Zebabdeh you have kids that are always just sitting on their boards
but then there's a few kids that are actually
able to kick, turn around and go up the ramps
Before like when we started here
they could hardly even stand on a board
If you remember, that's only skating two hours a day
maybe like five times a week
So like, they're progressing at a pretty fast rate
Skateboarding is a positive activity to pursue
because it gives the children something to be focused on
It allows you to meet different people from all over the world
I wouldn't have so many friends around the world
if it wasn't for skateboarding
so it allows you to get involved in other cultures really easily
I think something like SkatePal in areas like Ramallah and Zebabdeh
especially Zebabdeh it's in the countryside
and there's not so much good education up there
and from the looks of it whenever the club wasn't on
and we saw the kids on the street
they just hang out and just sit in places
and really do nothing
or they would just throw rocks and tear gas canisters
so I think it's pretty vital for the kids to have a creative outlet
that lets them put positive energy into sort of the environment around them
because there didn't really seem to be that much for them to do
and they seemed quite-- they were angry
It was good to see them having fun
and making building blocks and being creative
within skateboarding and then what comes after
what that leads on to
I think the human mind is probably the most happy
when it's creatively active
and not performing some sort of traditional menial task
It doesn't create a lot of sort of positive energy
It's just something, something to keep them away from
to distract them from their normal lives
and their normal situations
So you can go ahead and skate and you can kind of forget
about the bad times you're having at home
or anything like that
so it's a good way to escape reality, in a sense
Skateboarding is such a novel activity now in Palestine
You can't create a whole generation
of free-thinking outward thinking citizens
especially in Ramallah
but yeah, it could shape this sort of generation's outlook
but that's big thinking [inaudible]
It's got the potential to, definitely
So in cases like Muhammad [inaudible]
every time I came he was like shouting my name
and like high five and it was just making connections with these kids
who just loved skating
As mad as they were, the five o'clock skate lessons at Ramallah
were by far the most enjoyable part of the whole trip
I mean, I definitely looked forward to every evening at that park
and just seeing how far the kids have come on a daily basis
is probably the most rewarding thing to see, I think
so yeah, that was definitely the most enjoyable thing
Just to gather the kids and seeing them get wild on the board
like not in a way that I've seen in England
[inaudible] for us individually
as fucking lame as it sounds
I would have stayed in a stupid small town
and had no real ideals if I hadn't started skating
so I owe a lot to it
and you can see the kids that sort of pick it up
and have fun with it
and you can see it going somewhere
Yaaaay!