(SGI+) The documentary ”Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)” won an Oscar for the best documentary short subject at the 92nd annual Academy Awards. The film is about the first skate school in Kabul, Afghanistan, which the non-profit organization Skateistan opened in 2009.
The story of Skateistan started when Australian skater Oliver Percovich visited his girlfriend, who was working in Kabul in 2008. He began teaching street children how to skateboard, and the project has continued to develop ever since. Today Skateistan, which is supported by donations, runs four skate schools. Two of them are in Afghanistan, one in South Africa, and another one in Cambodia.
The opening of these schools provides the children with a space where they could be free to express themselves, learn, and simply be children and experience the joy of childhood. The award-winning documentary focuses on the female students of the school in Kabul.
Skateistan has already received several prizes for their work, including the NGO of the Year award at the 2009 Peace and Sport Forum in Monaco, the Ispo Brand New Social Awareness Award in 2011, the UNICEF Education through Sport award at the 2013 Beyond Sport Forum in Philadelphia, and the Laureus Sport for Good Award in 2015.
