Take a Ride With Ghana’s First All-Girls Skate Crew
Sandy Alibo has spent the past few years patiently building and promoting Surf Ghana, the very first skate crew to come from the West African country of Ghana. But when it came time for her and her partner, Kuukua Eshun, to make another dream a reality—a partner group called Skate Gal, exclusively for and by women, which launched last Saturday at the Berj Art Gallery—she wanted to push the subject matter beyond ollies and kick flips. “I wanted to really share more than just skateboarding with these girls,” Alibo said on the phone from Accra a few days after the launch, which included a full day on the boards, yes, but also yoga, a temporary tattoo station, a DJ set, and watercolor painting. “I wanted us to have a place to talk about work, life, family, inspiration. To be really happy to just have one another, to connect with other people.”
That doesn’t mean there was no real skate time: More than 60 women showed up to Saturday’s initiation event, where four guys from Surf Ghana were on hand to help the beginners find their balance. “At first it’s just about, can you just stand up on the board?” said Alibo. “People were scared to start, but as soon as they got on, they’d want to do it again and again. Even if they fell, they’d laugh.” Skateboarding is a relatively new phenomenon in Ghana, but Alibo is encouraged that a whole range of women participated on Saturday: from 10 years old to 35, fashion designers to singers. “Skateboarding has gone really viral for the men in Ghana,” she added. “I think we can have twice the number of women at our next event. We’re confident about the future of this sport.”
Up next: a weekly meet-up, plus larger events similar in style to the launch, which will take place every two months or so. At some point, Alibo hopes to invite a few famous female skateboarders from the U.S. and U.K. to lead workshops, but most pressing is the group’s current crowdfunding efforts for the creation of Accra’s first true skate park, which Alibo has wanted to build for years. “I know this could all grow with a real skate park,” she said. “We don’t have the best streets to skate on here in Accra like you do in the States. We need this.” There may be a few structural kinks to work out, but the spirit is already there. “I’ve never seen so many women excited about skating before,” she added. “We just want to give women a safe space to come and be courageous.”
Originally Appeared on Vogue
