In Kabul, Afghanistan, girls’ lives are going downhill fast.\u00a0 But for some, they are going back up again.\u00a0 And down, and up again…<\/p>\n
First the down.\u00a0 The death of so many adults during the war in Afghanistan has created a generation of lost children.\u00a0 Almost 50% of the country’s citizens are under the age of 16, and many of them are orphans.\u00a0 Even worse, there are very few opportunities and the infrastructure has been largely destroyed, creating a breeding ground for frustration and violence.\u00a0 Boys can burn some energy on a bike, or in a soccer game.\u00a0 But for girls, such activities are forbidden, leaving them at a dead end.\u00a0 And if they venture out they are under constant threat of being abused, or worse.<\/p>\n
But now the up: a place called “Skateistan.”\u00a0 It started in a decrepit, empty concrete fountain left over from the Soviet era.\u00a0 It was the perfect place to learn how to skateboard.\u00a0 Unlike other sports, skateboarding isn’t prohibited for girls, so they could join in.\u00a0 Once it got started, kids from all over – boys and girls, from different ethnic and economic backgrounds – began pouring in, to hang out, watch each other’s back and skate together as one.\u00a0 Even goofy-footers were welcomed.\u00a0 It was a world unto itself, a peaceful zone in the heart of a war-torn city.\u00a0 As one girl said, “Skating gives me courage, and once I start skating, I completely forget about my fears.”\u00a0 After several years, Skateistan moved into a bigger indoor\/outdoor facility.\u00a0 Today, in addition to skateboarding, Skateistan is a cultural center offering courses in computers, journalism, art, music and life skills, to help kids build a better future.<\/p>\n
Skateistan isn’t a panacea.\u00a0 Many girls have to wear veils or quit altogether when they reach puberty.\u00a0 As one grandfather warned,\u00a0“Families are still careful and thoughtful about letting their daughters out. We’re entitled to be very strict and afraid because negative consequences from the Taliban time are still out there, and men do whatever they want to women.”\u00a0 But at least for a little while, Skateistan lets them catch some air and kick-flip their way to some happiness, and tell their cares where to go pop-shove-it!<\/p>\n
And maybe the city that shreds together, can stay together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Kabul, Afghanistan, girls’ lives are going downhill fast.\u00a0 But for some, they are going back up again.\u00a0 And down, and up again… First the down.\u00a0 The death of so many adults during the war in Afghanistan has created a generation of lost children.\u00a0 Almost 50% of the country’s citizens…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[33,497,1121,1311],"class_list":["post-130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-6","tag-afghanistan","tag-girls","tag-skateboarding","tag-war"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}