AMMAN
— Many wonder whether skateboarding is a sport. The answer varies based on who
you ask. Many will say that it is, given the physical exertion you put into it.
Others will say it is not, due to the fact it is not as mainstream as football,
basketball, baseball, and rugby.
اضافة اعلان
Similar
to all sports, skateboarding teaches numerous physical and social skills.
7Hills Skatepark, an
NGO that is the first of its kind, makes sure its young
beneficiaries learn how to skate and develop useful skillsets.
In
2014, 7Hills, located at Samir Rifai Park in downtown Amman, was co-founded by
Mohammad Zakaria and Kasper Wauters. The name
'7Hills' is derived from the seven well-known hills in Amman. The skatepark’s
targeted demographics are the refugee and host communities based around it,
consisting of Syrian, Palestinian, Sudanese, Somali, Iraqi, and Yemeni youths.
“One
thing I loved when I started coming to the park a year ago was that the people
were humble and did not you feel like an outsider, but rather that you are
around family,” Clara Dabaghi, a 17-year-old youth leader told
Jordan News.
Abeer
Kafe, a 17-year-old from Sudan, echoed Dabaghi’s sentiment. “I loved that we
had skateboarding and the friends; those people are like a family,” she said.
7Hills’
youth leaders’ program was established in 2016 with a goal to empower the youth
and become a space for experimentation, discovery, and self-actualization
through activities in diverse, working-class areas.
“It
empowers young people to take responsibility, be active role models in the
community, and be rewarded for their active engagement,” said Jude Swearky of
the Sustainability and Development Office at 7Hills skatepark.
“We
offer a free-of-charge open program and constant infrastructural development to
create a hospitable public space. We work through the hands-on sport of
skateboarding to foster social cohesion, open dialogue between diverse users of
the space, harmony within diverse communities, female empowerment, and a sense
of involvement and belonging for refugees within their host communities (and
especially in public space),” Swearky told
Jordan News.
Every
week, more than 150 youths are seen at the park, with 70% refugee participation
and 45% female participation.
“After
coming to the park, I started to develop confidence and became less awkward
around different people and genders,” Kafe told
Jordan News.
“I
used to live in Africa before I came to Jordan, but when I arrived I saw segregation
between the boys and the girls here. When I came to 7Hills, there was no
segregation. We are a family and are treated equally no matter the age, gender,
height, and nationality,” Dabaghi told
Jordan News.
Amman
alone hosts one third of the almost 750,000 registered refugees living in
Jordan. The majority of refugees living in this urban setting are under 18.
Meanwhile, 55% of the total population in Amman is younger than 25. The youth
demographic causes enormous challenges at a governmental level, placing a
strain on the local community.
Swearky
told
Jordan News that they “use the youth leader program to develop
leader-skills, a higher sense of responsibility for when they become employed
in the future.”
“I
love seeing the smiles on the faces of everybody when we are in out
skateboarding sessions,” said Dabaghi.
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