Spreading the love of Skateboarding in Palestine!

"Elouise and Zelia are travelling to Jayyous, Palestine in May to volunteer with SkatePal, an incredible non-profit that empowers the Palestinian youth through skateboarding. They do this by building skateparks, holding classes and providing equipment and encouragement!

We met at Khora Community Centre in Athens, Greece where we have both been volunteering for the last 6 months. Through this we also started teaching with Free Movement Skateboarding who have built a mobile skatepark, and recently a small permanent skatepark near Eleonas refugee camp, and who hold sessions for kids from the refugee community and local Greek kids. At the new skatepark we also hold weekly girls-only sessions to encourage more girls to participate and make the sport more inclusive. These sessions encourage integration across cultures, improving confidence on and off a skateboard, and generally just having a great time with their friends. Having seen first-hand the benefits these sessions have brought for the kids we were inspired to travel to Palestine to build on this experience and become better teachers and skaters!

We especially love seeing girls getting involved and SkatePal makes an effort to have a gender balance among the volunteers so that we can hold girls-only sessions. This is especially important in Palestine as the youth have little access to sporting activities and skateboarding is one of the most inclusive sports out there; people of all ages, genders, classes and races can participate and have a good time while also breaking down these barriers together!

Donations to our campaign will go towards ensuring the sustainability of this project, helping them expand to empower kids in more places!"

For more on this amazing cause, check out Elouise and Zelia's crowdfunding campaign page below: