Today's Awesome News: Afghani Girls Take to Skateboarding When Forbidden to Cycle

It’s forbidden for girls to ride bicycles in Afghanistan, so girls are skating around the streets of Kabul!!

Although some sports and means of transportation are forbidden for women in Afghanistan, that doesn’t mean these girls aren’t going to find something even better.  Skateboarding is now the #1 sport for Afghan woman, and it looks WAY cooler than biking! These girls are showing the world that they’re proud to rise above oppression – and look super fierce while doing it!!

A charity called Skateistan started this trend when an Australian man named Oliver Percovich arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan, with three skateboards with intentions of skating with the youth of the region. According to the organizations history, “Percovich perceived the lack of opportunities for young Afghans, especially girls and working children, and realized that skateboarding was a way to engage them and build community”. The non-profit organization continues to build skateparks for the girls, while teaching them the importance of education and nutrition!!

There are roject sites in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Phnom Penh, and Johannesburg, South Africa, with an international headquarters is in Berlin, Germany.

Photographer Jessica Fulford-Dobson recently created a photo series of these girls and their skateboards.

These photos showcase the girls’ natural confidence and style!! “I met so many impressive women and girls in Afghanistan: a teacher as tough and determined as any man; young Afghans in their early twenties who were volunteering at an orphanage and were passionate about being seen as strong and willing to fight for themselves, rather than as victims of circumstance; and girls who were being educated to be leaders in their communities and who were already thinking carefully about their own and their country’s future.” Says the photographer.

Check out all the photos HERE!

BLAKE&WYLDE

(Images via BBC World Service/YouTube, Quartz  RhianonB)