RESTRICTION SUMMARY: Gaza, 27 October 2021. Palestinian girls practice on Skateboard sport at Gaza seaport.

0.1 SOUNDBITE (in Arabic) Ragab Al Rifi, coach.
0.2 SOUNDBITE (in Arabic) Kinda Farwana.

STORYLINE:

A skateboard is a type of sports equipment used for skateboarding. They are usually made of a specially designed 7-8 ply maple plywood deck and polyurethane wheels attached to the underside by a pair of skateboarding trucks.

The skateboarder moves by pushing with one foot while the other foot remains balanced on the board.

In an unprecedented show of support for Gazan skaters, including girls, the Italian organization Gaza FREEstyle has undertaken to train Gazan girls in skateboarding for the first time and devoted a whole group of professional female skaters for that purpose.

The organization, which began its activities in the Gaza Strip in 2014, established the first skate park in the port area in 2017 and continued improving it since then, allowing hundreds of skaters to practice their favorite sport and marking a point of reference for new freestyle crews.

So far, they managed to bring 300 skateboards, spare parts and other supplies from Italy to the strip.

The project attempted to provide Gazan youth with some kind of breathing space and hope to live a normal life in a place that has nothing to do with normality, especially given the fact that the besieged enclave of 365 square kilometers and almost 2 million residents lacks basic facilities, much less recreational ones.

That project, funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and implemented by the Cooperation and Solidarity Association (ACS), is a social and environmental urban redevelopment project in the North Gaza governorate. The project started in 2019 and is ongoing.

On an area of 3.7 acres (1.5 hectares), there will be a multifunctional building, three sports fields, three playgrounds for children, two skateboarding ramps, a circus area and an area for community greenhouses.

Gazans believe that with such facilities and support, 2020 could be less cruel and more hopeful for a population that has almost given up hope.

Footage by/APAwire