Interview with Sophie Friedel, Female Skateboarding Instructor at Skateistan

Hi there Sophie, please introduce yourself to our readers!
I am 25 years old and originally from Bavaria (in South East Germany). I studied product design and spent seven years living in England (Cornwall, where Sophie skated with the Faltown Crew, check out her profile on their page) after which I temporarily stayed in Berlin. At the moment, I volunteer in Kabul.



Tell us a bit about your skate style, your favourite things to do on 4 wheels etc!
I really enjoy doing fast slides on hard wheels. Last summer I caught the speed bug and started DH, I absolutely love it, this feeling of freedom....I equally enjoy Carving/Cruising and Stand Ups on soft wheels. Another one of my favourites is Bowl riding, especially at the Fasanerie in Munich. A lot of the time I will carry a board with me to get from one place to the other.

You're currently in Afghanistan and volunteering for Skateistan, please tell us a bit more about this project.
The Skateistan project mainly focusses on education, intercultural communication, health, social development and a positive outlook and perspective on the future for girls, and besides that obviously on skateboarding.
At the moment we are busy getting the Skateistan Sports and Educational Complex going. We've got two classrooms, a kitchen, showers, and amazing skate park measuring 1700 square metres (18.300 square feet) and we are working on a library.

In addition to their regular scholar education in English, Dari (Persian language variant spoken in Afghanistan), maths, history, art and computer science we provide tutoring for the kids. They can also take part in theatre projects and of course they are free to use the skating facilities afterwards. We would like to encourage the kids to peacefully coexist and to discover different cultures. Furthermore, we'd like to educate them with regards to issues such as hygiene, first aid, environmental awareness, sustainable electricity generation and water pollution.

At present we've got 200 pupils aged 5 to 17. Some of them come from the streets, some of them have a working class background. Another group of students come from middle class homes, they equally visit a public or private school. We also work with kids raised in institutions and are cooperating with a hospital for the disabled as we would also like to give physically disadvantaged or challenged children the opportunity to go to our school.



Quite often, whole parts of town are inhabitated by one ethnic group, which means that it is unfortunately very rare for kids of different social and ethnic groups to meet one another. If it does happen, it often leads to conflict. By bringing everybody together in the skate park, an exchange between different social and ethnic groups can happen, which supports a peaceful coexistence among the kids as well as mutual respect.

Unfortunately, a lot of the international aid organisations here in Afghanistan have barricaded themselves up and because of high levels of safeguard they often cannot work directly with the people who need help. Skateistan is a small organisation, hence it's flexible with a hands-on approach working closely with the local population. We work with our Afghan colleagues, the kids as well as their families on a daily basis and generally have good and strong ties with the locals.




What's the daily routine at Skateistan like?
It's a constant up and down, one day can be the best and the worst at the same time. The day usually kicks off with a good cup of coffee, then we've got a team meeting at 8am to plan things out and get them done until the first skate session. A session is one hour of teaching, a 15 min break followed by an hour of skating. Then we have lunch, then another session and then it's back to the office until 5pm. The Afghans are very eager and have a high work morale! A six day week plus Friday as the day off is standard here.



Do you think that Skateistan can do something to positively change the overall attitude of the youths in Afghanistan?
Abslutely! It's not easy and it's unfortunately progressing fairly slowly, but something's definitely happening!


Do women in Afghanistan have any elbowroom at all?
Well, it is of course not the same as in a Western country. Impossible to walk around alone in the streets. I have to wear a headscarf at all times and people often stare at me. There's not a lot of 'foreigners' here. Cycling, driving a car or going out for a jog aren't permitted either. Women are not permitted to go to the cinema and are only allowed into the mosques during a few particular holidays. I once went with a female friend, it was crass. At first, the men did not want to let the women (about 300, crammed into a small garden space behind the mosque) in. Their argument was the women and children are too dirty.....!



So, are women allowed to skate then?
Yeah, it's really cool, there's no issue whatsoever with that. Women must not cycle as this is frowned upon to say the least, but skating is ok. Boxing, bodybuilding and martial arts are popular sports, as are animal fights involving horses, birds, dogs and camels, so fairly aggressive activities. Therefore, skateboarding is one of the few sports that are acceptable for women.

Can we do anything to help?
Yes, for example by making a donation, everything helps!

The bank details are:
Name of the receiving bank: Sparkasse Rhein-Neckar-Nord
Account nr: 38880373
Sort Code: 67050505
IBAN: DE 67670505050038880373
BIC (Swift): MANSDE66XXX

Or you could buy a Skateistan T-Shirt.
100% of the proceeds go to Skateistan.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Not really, apart from enjoy your life and make the most of it!



We would like to thank Sophie for taking the time to answer our questions (Note: This interview was sent via military satellite as there is currently no internet in the whole of Kabul) and wish her all the best for her remaining time at Skateistan!

Please support Skateistan if you can, every little helps!