Skate World Better (SWB) is a non-profit based in Denmark, that was put together by three students of the MA program in African Studies at UCPH in Copenhagen. It started as an idea to raise funds and gather volunteers to build a skate park in Mozambique. It grew into something so much bigger and by the time the team finished building in Mozambique, the idea of founding an NGO, inspired by Concrete Jungle Foundation and Make Life Skate Life, was realised. I spoke with Martin of SWB to find out more…
Words by Adam Gray
So, Martin, you’ve started SWB with your friends – but why Mozambique?
It did not take long to decide on Mozambique as the spot because there was no project of this kind there. Moreover, one of our group – Tomas – spent his youth there because his dad was working there so he had all those amazing contacts that helped us so much.
Do you all skate?
Well, this is a funny question, because I am the only one from our trio who actually skates. Brendan and Tomas were much more interested in doing a project in Mozambique and we all shared an interest in this part of Africa. They got a crash course in skating just through this project and because we all just spent so much time together while preparing for this, but the truth is that they got engaged in a massive project without even knowing how to ollie.
I’m sure! How long have you been skating?
I started skating in 2010, because I found myself living right next to a famous plaza spot in Prague (Stalinplaza) and as I was walking around it I just fell in love with skating and what the skaters ( who are now my friends) were doing there. I asked my dad for a board for my birthday and he seemed to like the idea of me being so passionate about something.
Seeing I found something I wanted to give my heart to. I’ve been skating ever since, traveled the world for spots, met tons of people and all of it has only reaffirmed my belief that skating was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I shoot a lot of analog photography, mostly with some skate thematics and I recently released a full video that I filmed myself (see “Boys in Love” on Vimeo).
Tell me about the early days of the Mozambique project?
As I explained, we were planning it for about a year without visiting Mozambique personally, so we were only relying on our contacts. We have tons of friends there, that helped us figure out some logistics and obviously we also communicated with any skaters we could find in the community. Everybody from the Mozambique scene eventually knew that we were coming there, so we got a really warm reception at the airport right after we landed, that was so cool.
This was the first project for SWB right?
It was our first project for our org and also the first building project that any of us had really been a part of so we didn’t really know what to expect. It sounds like a cliche but, we just believed that it was possible and that belief got us there eventually. Getting it done was similar to skating in a lot of ways. Like, I’ve loved skating since day one and I pretty much explored all of its faces. I’ve fought hard for tricks, I’ve climbed fences to hit hidden spots. I’ve travelled to other towns, cities and countries to skate. So I just wanted to go even deeper into what skateboarding could offer and I realized that I had gotten so much from these things, that I wanted to give a bit back. I figured I could combine my interest in Africa with my interest in doing good for my subculture.
I’m sure you needed the belief first, but the actual logistics of organizing it must’ve been something right?=
Well, here I could speak for hours, because pretty much everything about it was difficult, you know. We had to persuade so many people to donate time and resources, because we did not have much money ourselves. Living in Copenhagen, working and studying does not exactly mean you’re rich. It was a challenge to make people, not only our friends, believe that we really mean it and get their support. I’d say that it’s only now that the parks are finished that we became legit. Getting money was hard for the same reasons, because until then no-one ever heard about SWB.
The only easy communication was with our homies in Mozambique, who were so hyped that we were doing this, that they just did not ask any questions but were just ready to get it going. I need to add that I am so thankful for all the people that were surrounding without their help we could never do it. This only reaffirmed my belief that skaters help skaters, that we all got eachothers backs. Some of the favors people did for us, not in support of SWB, but in support of skateboarding in Mozambique were just incredible!
Can you tell me about coordinating with locals in Mozambique? How was the land found for the park?
This is also a fairly difficult question, because we ran into a crazy complication with the land we had secured right before we flew to Mozambique. Maybe half a year before the project started, we found a great partner there and he had the land where we could build the park on. I got details about the property from him and friends who are architects designed an amazing park based on those details. So we had the design and thought we were all set, donations were coming in. Then right before we were about to leave our partner in Mozambique tragically passed away (RIP Isard). Apart from just the sorrow of losing him, mad complications came with it. So eventually, when we landed in Moz, we did not really have the land because due to the inheritance it now belongs to other relatives and on top of that we lost the promised funding from one sponsor as well!
Wow, that’s like a perfect storm.
Yeah, those were real desperate moments. Fortunately though we knew all the local crews and skaters who were involved and so within days we all came up with a plan B, that was a bit cheaper. Instead of one big park we ended up building two smaller skateparks. One was a reconstruction of a smaller park already in existence from an ASM build. The second, way bigger one, was in collaboration with an organization outside of the center called Maputo-Skate.
Also the extortion became a headache, even though we did have all the necessary papers allowing for the build, we are still the constant target of shakedowns by local authorities, we had to pay so many bullshit bribes to just get left alone to build. The locals were amazing in this respect though, talking to the officials, we let them negotiate because when they find out you’re European the prices tend to double and triple. It took us some weeks, but eventually we found a really sick pattern, where everybody was doing their job and we moved on like a starship.
How long did you guys stay for?
Few people from the original crew stayed for three months which is the maximum you can stay on tourist visa, but most of the volunteers were there for a month or a bit less.
How many volunteers did you have come down with you? What about in the local communities?
We eventually had 37 volunteers which is far more than we ever expected and it was pretty hectic, but again skaters are homies no matter what, so we found good peace together. To be clear, I am only talking about volunteers from outside of Mozambique, I can not even count how many people were there helping us from the community. There were kids running around taking tools and doing some real adult jobs all the time. We also had a lot of support from people who just pitched in because they saw that we were trying to do something nice for the neighborhood.
For example, there was a local welder who came and offered his services just because his kid was among the other kids helping out and having fun. People like that were essential to the project because their skills and their knowledge of the local market, contacts in general. Eventually we ended up buying most of our materials from local sellers, not from the big warehouses, so that was great.
That also must’ve helped with navigating things with authorities and getting it done?
Unless you’ve experienced it you can’t really imagine what kind of gangsters the local police can be. It’s something that I think citizens and locals in those communities have to deal with all the time, corruption. Because of my studies I knew about like the politics, and the history of the country, but the reality of day to day life was pretty eye opening. I’ve never witnessed anything like that. Mozambique is an amazing country, with a rich heritage, beautiful architecture, amazing nature, cool people and just so many great things to experience, but local authorities/ the government can make it difficult for a project like this to get done. At one point I feared that we’d run out of cash just due to the bribes.
“I feared that we’d run out of cash just due to the bribes”
We had to fight over everything! The argument to authorities that we were doing something nice for the local children got laughed at so many times that we figured that we had to play the local game with all of them. Eventually we realized that for the politicians it’s all just about recognition, so as soon as a local politician, let’s say the mayors of the neighbourhoods where we’d be building , got to have their faces and names attached to the project they’d immediately cooperate with us. They needed us to say that it’s all because of their “grace” or something and then we could freely operate. We had pay them this credit, acknowledge like that it was their idea, just to have a clear path to pour the fucking concrete. So we paid it and we poured, sometimes you have to forget your ego and realize you are in a different place, with different rules and it ain’t your continent.
Now that the parks are built, the project is accomplished, what are your hopes for the Mozambique parks and scene they hopefully nurture?
Well, here is something positive! To be honest with you, I have no doubt that the Mozambican scene will grow stronger every damn day! When I was there, skating, the kids took me for like a master, but I knew even then that one day they will all skate so much better than I could even imagine. They are all just so determined and just have that spark and tha love for skateboarding. Everybody was so stoked for everything, whether it was giving them an old board, the work on the skatepark or a picture that someone took of them doing an ollie, they just loved it and felt the realness of skateboarding. It also really invigorated my spirit and now I appreciate skating so much more because I saw what kind of joy it inspires
Lots of future Mozambican rippers on the way?
Yeah totally! I kind of want to make a bet with you, that in two years maximum, this local kid named Noel will be on the Berrics, Transworld or Thrasher. He is a genuine skater. I became close with him, I’d like to support him, make sure he keeps rolling, even though I myself am still struggling to survive in Copenhagen.
Someone else I have to mention is Francisco Vinho, who runs Maputo-skate and he had it all figured out. When we lost the land and had to come up with a plan B the collaboration between our two groups is how that second large park got built. He had no experience with making a skatepark, but we had one of the best crews there with us. So we linked up and helped him, seeing how much his organization is doing for kids in the community on a daily basis was amazing. Now he’s running classes for hundreds of kids and they have a place to play all day long. He also does a lot of youth programs around things like drug abuse and other dangers that can impact these kids on a daily basis. He really rocks, and I am pretty sure that he will really help nurture the Mozambican skate scene! So we’ll see, but I am really positive about the impact this project had there.
What’s next for Skate World Better, you gonna keep going with new projects?
So, originally this was only supposed to be a school project, but now, having the experience we obviously want more! For now, the plan is to take it easy and just enjoy all the experiences we had there while settling back in Copenhagen to finish one last semester and write our thesis about the project. That is the most important thing at the moment. Nevertheless, I am kind of addicted to this project, so I can not stop thinking about next steps, so I can tell you that there will be more to come from SWB. I can’t get into details yet, because none of it is exactly official, but I can say two things.
First, I joined forces with my long time homie Vojta, who got crazy interested in being part of this and we are working on a new collection of SWB boards and clothes. It is a great way to spread the legacy when people wear or skate your stuff and second, it’s a way to constantly make more money for new projects. Stay tuned and follow Skate World Better because that is where you can find all the info, we will drop the collection in March! Secondly, we are communicating with our contacts to see about new projects.
In Africa?
Obviously, this project brought us a lot of attention from other countries in Africa and now we have homies all over. We are trying to see what fits the best, because I personally intend to go back to Maputo to see all the friends and see the progress there. Now, those who have their geography on lock would understand, that Swaziland would be a great match for a future build, because it’s right next to Maputo. I actually already went there for a trip and to scout a bit about the scene there and I met this guy Jason, who is like a local Phelps, so I guess we found our guy and we found our next project. But again, it’s too early to talk about it now, but it’s definitely a possibility for 2021! Follow us on social media and you will be the first to know when it’s up!
Final thoughts on the world, skateboarding, what you hope to see?
Well, I just want to say thank you to everyone who helped us, it was tons of people from all around who believed that we can do this and it gave us so much strength even though at times it was just super difficult. Moreover I need to say that all my respect belongs to Wonders Around The World which is a sickass crew of builders who brought all the tools and the knowledge, so I am eternally grateful to them, for all the guidance and inspiration. To all of you who are reading this article, if you can, go to Africa at some point! You will have an experience that you can not imagine and you will appreciate the privileges you have ten times more and the opportunities you have to impact the world for better. It might seem as if we went there to teach these kids something new, but it’s actually quite the opposite. We went there to learn through this shared passion for skating and I left with a ton of valuable experiences and a whole bunch of different perspectives regarding ‘what is really life about’. Viva Africa!
