By MATTHEW PETERSEN
Skate Ubuntu is rolling again.
The kids of Hlalani are desperate to start skateboarding in their park again. And they need your help.
If you have an old skateboard lurking in the garage, consider donating it. Helmets and protective pads are also needed.
Use the contacts in the poster below or get hold of the Skate Ubuntu committee at skateubuntu@gmail.com. You can also contact Skate Ubuntu member Liam Ogle on 064 675 7461.
The skate park was completed in 2020, but the Covid-19 curveball derailed the project in 2021. Skate Ubuntu committee members who have remained in Makhanda are doing their utmost to reignite interest in the park.
They plan to paint a mural in the park, encouraging young girls to get involved in skateboarding.
Two Rhodes students, Sean Devonport and Shannon Hansen started Skate Ubuntu started in 2017. The group registered as a Rhodes society in 2018 to try to get financial backing from the university. Still, they relied mainly on donations, sponsors, and self-run fundraisers.
Their early work included skateboarding lessons for young kids at CM Vellem Primary School, which they did in 2019 with great success.
The idea to build a skate park in Hlalani garnered exceptional support, and between R15 000 was raised, enough to secure the necessary tools and materials to start building. Local companies gave discounts on cement and sand to help the building process.
In early 2020, Covid threw a spanner in the works. Still, by June of 2020, the construction of the skate park began.
Many local kids had never heard of skateboarding, but they greeted the idea with excitement and pitched in to help the Skate Ubuntu team build the park.
The kids who had helped build the skate park got the most skating opportunities as a reward for their efforts, and they thoroughly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, some of the Skate Ubuntu left Rhodes at the end of 2020, and progress stalled.
Skate Ubuntu is now a registered NPO, and as lockdown restrictions ease, it is rearing to go.
To check out the work that Skate Ubuntu has done in the past and what the latest developments are, check out their social media pages below:
Instagram: @skateubuntu
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkateUbuntu
