As a skate-aid volunteer in Nepal - A field report

My name is Sachin Raj and I’m a skateboarder from Kochi Kerala/India. I have been skateboarding on the streets for 5 years as our city doesn’t have a park yet. With minimal resources, I traveled to India's skateparks and was able to learn the basics of park skating.

I would like to share my experience volunteering for skate-aid at the new park in Butwal/Nepal. I spent a month there helping with the construction of the skate park. My 3000 km train journey from South India to Nepal took three days and was not easy, but the thought of skating in the park motivated me.

When I first went to the site, it was very difficult for me to get involved with the physical work, as I have no experience in handling equipment or the tasks required. However, it was important to me to do something for the community and the kids on site. When I was a kid, there were no skateboards here, no skateboard scene and no one to tell you about skateboarding. I still remember riding a small "toy skateboard" alone on the street as a 12-year-old. All those childhood memories made me want to do something for the kids. It was the first time I felt like I had done something for skateboarding, and the satisfaction I felt was indescribable.

I had seen the call for volunteers on the skate-aid website and didn't hesitate to sign up because I had faith in skate-aid that they would take good care of me during the construction period. I applied and soon I received the answer from Gabu Dos Santos, who is also called Gabbu Dai in Nepali slang. I was assigned to the Nepal Project by him. I arrived at the skate-aid Nepal office in Butwal a few days after I was accepted. After the three-day train ride, I was finally at the place where the skate park would be built. Everyone welcomed me warmly and I felt right at home.

My job was to skate with the kids, take care of the park and do certain small projects that would be beneficial to the kids to introduce them to skateboarding. This was a big challenge for me, but Mr. Jagrid Pahadi, the skate-aid Nepal team leader, was always there to push me and help me relieve my stress. Slowly, I started to enjoy the tasks. At that moment, I thought that I now had the opportunity to live a life as a skateboarder and do something related to skateboarding. Coaching kids is the greatest thing and being able to skate in a skate park every day was the biggest dream of my life. This tour helped me a lot to know myself, to heal myself, to be confident, to not give up, to deal with things on my own...and it really worked! It was the only time I felt like I had these skills already but couldn't use them anywhere. But skate-aid Nepal was the platform to use my skills and develop myself. I also took on content tasks like writing presentations, reports and other mailings. This whole tour and volunteering in Nepal helped me to become a grown man. The changing earth and its current situation is depressing and sad. All this time I was a child and suddenly I grew up noticing changes of people and places. Earth is no longer the very best place to share your love and care for others. But the skateboarding community made me feel that it can be a way to bring life and their values back to the old days when you cared about others instead of being jealous of how well others are doing.

skate-aid Nepal has helped me a lot and I would like to thank everyone who has brought me this far. There are so many people who motivated me not to give up and keep going. I will never forget their love and support! My special thanks to Jagrid Dai, Gabbu Dai and everyone else I had the pleasure of meeting at skate-aid. I have been asked to return to Nepal to continue my volunteer work. However, I’m also just starting to organize skateboarding workshops here in my city, now that I have more experience coaching and communicating with kids.

Thank you so much!

Sachin Raj