Their goal is simple: make skateboarding more accessible to the world. Make Life Skate Life are a community skatepark constructor and foundation, geared towards building spaces to skate for those that would not otherwise have them. So far they’ve built parks in Bolivia, Ethiopia, Nepal, Myanmar, and many more. We got talking to Arne, one of the board of directors for Make Life Skate Life, about what a project like this really requires.
[TAKEN FROM ISSUE #1]
Where did this all start for you?
Make Life Skate Life started in 2013 with our first project in India. While traveling in India my friends and I met local skaters who wanted to build their own skatepark. They had land available but no experience in building skateparks so we came up with the idea to organize a workshop and teach them about concrete construction. A year later India’s first public skatepark was built with the help of volunteers from all over the world.
And it snowballed from there?
Well, after the project in India, it became clear that there were opportunities to work together with more skateboarders around to realise similar projects, so we created Make Life Skate Life.
But how were you able find the money and resources back then?
We’d built in India and then Bolivia with Levi’s Skateboarding on board. 7Hills in Jordan in 2014 was entirely crowdfunded which was definitely a turning point in our organisation and set the direction for the following projects. That was also the time that Jon (Chaconas) got on board who did an amazing job in establishing the organisation and developing new projects.
“The skatepark’s neighbour, a high-up lawyer, did not want the poor kids to play next to his house. He did everything in his power to close down the park.“
Who are the key players in Make Life Skate Life?
Today the main people involved in the organisation are Jon, who is taking the build lead on every project, Samantha who has her own NGO called aptART but luckily also has the energy to do content related work for us, and myself. I do a little bit of everything. And then there is of course the crew of volunteers and the countless individuals and organisations that have supported us over the past four years.
What do you want from all this?
We want to provide the infrastructure that enables people who are not yet familiar with skateboarding to use the parks. I would say that our projects revolve around concepts such as community building, capacity building, and participation.
Conceptually that’s massive, but how do you know where to actually begin with a project?
The starting point for every project is a crew of motivated skateboarders who want to make a difference in their community. Our projects are collaborations with communities which have an inherent energy. We combine our resources and make a common effort towards a common goal – to make skateboarding accessible to the local community by building a public skatepark.
When did you realise what you’re doing is working?
From our experience these projects set sparks in the communities we work with and so far all of our projects have inspired the locals to continue with their own projects. Holystoked is the best example – they build skateparks all over India after we worked with them on our first project. The sad fact there though is that our skatepark doesn’t exist anymore. The park was built on private property and the neighbor, a high-up lawyer, did not want the poor kids to play next to his house. He did everything in his power to shut down the place and despite Holystoked’s efforts to keep the park alive it was eventually closed.
That’s terrible!
Yes, but Holystoked now build parks all over the country. And in La Paz they continue to work with the city and built a bowl in the city center. Or take 7Hills in Jordan – the locals run a successful skate program for refugees. And Ethiopia Skate are building their next skatepark in Hawassa. These are success stories that development agencies can only dream of.
“We had the roughest weather, were living in tents in the woods, there was the lowest level of hygiene, and every second person turned blue because of the lack of oxygen.”
Let’s get into the dirt of all this. What is the concrete reality of what goes into your parks?
Before building a park we make sure that we have the support of community leaders and permission to build. The actual construction of one of our parks is kind of like a three-week festival where like-minded people get together to create. It’s very inspiring for everyone involved. The process of constructing our skateparks has always been very deliberative where everybody gives their input to figure out the best lines and ways to make the best use of the available space.
Doesn’t that end up being a little bit chaotic?
There is a lot of logistics involved which at times can be somewhat nerve-wracking, but in the end the challenges that come up force you to be creative. In Ethiopia for example we couldn’t get our hands on wheelbarrows. They only had overpriced imports from Turkey or China that broke down instantly. As we were many volunteers we created a bunch of self-made “handbarrows” to move materials. The projects have definitely taught us to think local and adapt to the local way of doing things.
It sounds like it must be really fun though?
Yeah! I have to say that my favorite project was Myanmar. I’d worked on the project for two and a half years before the actual build and really wanted to see it happen. The outcome was amazing and there wasn’t much support needed from our side after the park was finished. The locals have a lot of discipline, are incredibly organized and had everything under control from day one. It’s unreal to see how much the kids have progressed since the park was built.
What other projects are you especially proud of?
The project that is sticking out the most is definitely Bolivia. It was by far the largest scale project with more than 100 volunteers who built a 1200m² park at 3600m above sea level. We had the roughest weather, were living in tents in the woods, there was the lowest level of hygiene, and every second person turned blue because of the lack of oxygen. We even had a permanent ambulance at the build site because of the number of people that went down. There was so much shit happening and so many legendary moments stuck with me. We were such a big crew that we could go to any place and start our own party. Overall, it was crazy experience and I remember that I slept for a week straight after I got back home.
Where would you like to see MLSL go next?
Our next project will be in Morocco in December this year, then we will get a crowdfunding campaign going to do a project in Iraq where we plan to build in March or April 2018. We receive a lot of demands from communities from all over the world and we want to connect with all of them. Our next challenge is to grow the capacity of our organization to be able to do more projects. There are a lot of different directions that Make Life Skate Life could go and I’m really interested to explore new ways to support skateboarding around the world. I don’t think Make Life Skate Life will limit itself to just building skateparks and organizing skate classes, there are just way too many possibilities.
