#artists4skateaid: We have picked 7 designs for limited edition T-Shirts that will be available on June 1st in our Online Shop. Big shout out to Nikolai Kampen (@nikolaikampen), Moritz Ermler (@moinmo_), Lea Mensiger (@mensilea), Daniel Guss (@danielguss), tattoo artist x.sleestak.x from Toronto (@x.sleestak.x) and Rapper MC Fitti (@mcfitti). Thank you for the awesome designs and the effort you put into supporting the good cause. Together we empower kids!Special thanx to Simon Gosejohann @simon_gosejohann_ and MC Fitti @mcfitti for supporting our challenge and the Insta-takeover last Sunday. We had a blast!;)

22nd March 2020 a lockdown was imposed here in Kigali. We didn’t know how long it was going to take, but in the end it lasted 44 days. Day one seemed really strange as foreign friends and workmates were stressed to catch the last flights. It felt like a random break up of a great relationship. The first week of the lockdown was fully filled with creativity. Sometimes, I used to play indoors board games, juggling, balancing with the skateboard on a bottle of water.

#artists4skateaid
Design a t-shirt graphic for skate-aid…and there are no limits to your creativity. Post your design on Instagram using the hashtag #artists4skateaid and link to @skateaid.
If you don't use Instagram, just send us your design to info@skate-aid.org
The best designs will be selected for a limited edition t-shirt and will be available at our online shop.
Deadline is May 15, 2020 So put pencil to paper and help us to empower Kids!

"It all started with a call from Toby, the Head of Projects at skate-aid. We had been working together since 2015 and had built a good friendship over the years. The chat was quick, but the weight of the call was more intense than I would have ever imagined. He asked me to join the construction crew for a new project… in Syria! I was stunned. Syria?
What I knew about Syria at that time was, that there were a lot of Syrian refugees scattered around the globe. It seemed like everyone was trying desperately to escape Syrian realities and I understand why. It was a heart-breaking, war torn country. Yet here I was, contemplating whether or not to go to Syria to build a skate park..."

My name is Tobias Schult and I‘m a photographer from Berlin/Germany. Besides my commercial work, I try to work on personal projects on a regular basis. This year in January I spent 2 weeks in Kampala, originally working with Viva con Agua. My contact there was Papa, a great guy who did an awesome job in introducing me to a lot of people. This is how I got to know Jack, the pioneer of skateboarding in East Africa, a father, a highly respected community member and simply a great and humble guy. He‘s the president of the Uganda Skateboard Union, the skate-aid representative for East Africa and especially responsible for this beautiful skate park in the Kitintale ghetto...

Syria. The first thing everyone asks is whether it’s a safe place... and it’s definitely safer than I imagined. After 2 days of being in Syria all my worries had left me. It was safe. The people were nice and all I had to do was go down to the local skate park every day, skate, coach, laugh and hangout with everyone. I would show the kids some new tricks that they could learn and they would teach me some moves of their own...

Sadly we have to announce, that our active projects are closed until further notice. Therefore, no supervised skateboarding and no access to the skate parks at all. We encourage everybody to stay home.
According to the directive of the BMZ (Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development) all of our international volunteers are getting back to their home countries. But we, as well as the volunteers, are more than ready to go back on track and into the projects as soon as we are allowed to and it’s safe again.
Thanks to our local volunteers and partner we will be able to restart the workshops as soon as the corona crisis is over and it’s safe again.
In the meantime…please wash your hands & stay healthy!

This week we wanted to start the "Skull Bowl Project" for our Uganda project. In cooperation with our partner Jack, from the "Uganda Skateboard Union", we will add a bowl to the skate park. Since the project has been so successful so far, we will also send additional volunteers to Uganda this year to support the locals in their weekly workshops so that even more kids have the opportunity to take part. Our project coordinator Gabu wanted to head to Kampala this week to start the construction. The grand opening was planned for June ... BUT ...

Wir starten eine neue Runde „Skaten statt Ritalin“ – 3 Monate skaten für Kids mit ADHS!
Die Workshops im Rahmen des Projektes „Skaten statt Ritalin“ richten sich an Kinder im Alter zwischen 8 und 14 Jahren, bei denen ADHS diagnostiziert wurde. In wöchentlich stattfindenden Workshops können die Kinder selbstbestimmt Skateboard fahren, Spaß haben, ihre Erfolge feiern und dabei ihrem Bewegungsdrang freien Lauf lassen. Unterstützt werden sie dabei von erfahrenen Skateboard-Coaches, die ihnen bei Bedarf Tipps und Hilfestellung geben...

I went to Palestine not knowing what to expect. I went into the unknown. Looking back, I think I just had some blind faith in the power of skateboarding. Somehow, I knew everything would turn out all right with my skateboard by my side. Now, after the experience my belief in the positive effects of skateboarding is stronger than ever. It’s hard not to sound cliché when writing about international volunteering. It’s such a romanticized topic. I will try to be as honest as possible and tell you about one experience I had that stayed with me...