Johannesburg - Tucked away in Joburg’s inner-city lies a safe haven for schoolchildren that is fast gaining popularity.
The republic of Skateistan is an international organisation that operates in South Africa and works in the disadvantaged parts of inner-city Joburg since early 2014.
What started out as outreach sessions in a previously abandoned skate bowl at a park in Troyeville is now a young skater’s paradise.
In August 2016, they officially opened a fourth Skate School, located in downtown Joburg which includes a state-of-the-art concrete skatepark and three-story education centre, with flexible office and classroom space.
Meanwhile, thousands of kilometres away, the Laureus Sport for Good Award was given to a US-based Laureus-supported programme last week.
The award was handed to Lost BoyzInc in Chicago ahead of the annual Laureus World Sports Awards announcement happening on April 24, in Seville, Spain.
LaVonte Stewart founded Lost Boyz Inc. in 2009 to help disadvantaged kids in Chicago’s low-income neighbourhoods.
Stewart was coaching a boys’ team in Chicago’s Rosenblum Park when two men with a gun chased another through the area.
The children’s reaction to the violence shocked their coach into action.
The programme now provides at-risk youths with training and the competition of organised sport, but also economic and academic opportunities in an area where a third of residents live below the poverty line and are surrounded by gang violence.
Eighty-eight percent of parents surveyed agree that Lost Boyz Inc prevented their child from becoming a victim of youth violence.
Laureus-supported community projects span every continent and work passionately towards bringing positive social change and helping individuals overcome difficulties they face.
Laureus supports 30 programmes in South Africa, each teaching the values that exist in sport; values such as teamwork, respect for others and hard work.
Most projects also have complementary programmes such as educational and life skills workshops, and address social problems as diverse as drug abuse, tension between communities, racial and religious intolerance and HIV/Aids.
Back in SA, Skateistan runs five programmes within the Skate Schools for children aged 5-17 years: Outreach, Dropping In, Skate and Create, Back to School and Youth Leadership.
These programmes combine life-skills with fun, freedom and creativity to help create leaders for a better world.
The programmes run five days a week in the afternoon for children to attend after they have been to school.
Girls-only sessions address the gender divide and give girls an equal opportunity to join in.
Social worker at Skateistan, Vuyo Cekise said they see up to 95 children per day and up to 650 per week but it’s not just about skating and having fun.
“We provide the children with a meal, assist with their homework and we teach them valuable skills that will make them kinder.
“Of course there’s the skating, which they absolutely love,” she said.
Skateistan also offers parenting workshops to encourage positive discipline.
“This is how we spread our message of kindness.
“We encourage the parents to be involved in their children’s interests.
“You will notice how kind our children are.
“They respect each other and they know exactly what to do should there be an emergency.
“They know to give each other space when they skate to avoid accidents.
“They are so well-behaved,” she said.
Educator, Enos Rankwe, who was studying engineering at the Central Johannesburg College, when he got involved with Skateistan, said what started out as a way to make extra money, is now his passion.
“I started by loitering outside and now I am the Homework and Extra-Curricular organiser. In my life, I have often asked myself how I could get involved in my community, and this is how I do.
“Our lesson plans cover topics like People of the World, Natural Balance, Children and the Environment and Creation and Innovation,” he said.
Since joining Skateistan, Rankwe has now changed his studies to Theology and is now a full-time worker at Skateistan.
“Kids have questions about religion, sex, dating.
“Home life and their place in the world.
“We have created a safe space for them to ask those questions and we do our best to answer them.
“I have also noticed that the children absolutely love to do crafts. They love to create things,” said Rankwe.