The good folks at Make Life Skate Life and Ethiopia Skate joined forces to bring to life Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s first skatepark: Addis Skatepark. A crowd-funded initiative, Addis Skatepark’s Indigogo campaign raised over $30,000 in one month for a public skatepark free for the community of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to enjoy. Over the last week, volunteers from all over the world have come together in Addis to participate in this one of a kind project and be a part of the stoke.
We arrived in Addis late Saturday and have since had the opportunity to mingle with the locals, wonder around the city, and lend a hand with construction. The locals have greeted us with open arms and have been nothing but amazing to us and the rest of the crew. We’ll be here for the next few weeks and are stoked to share our experience in Addis with you all. Thanks to everyone at Make Life Skate Life & Ethiopia Skate for letting us be a part of this amazing initiative!
Check out some photos from our first few days in Addis and be sure to follow our site and social media pages for more updates from the project.
Children play soccer at the site adjacent to the site of the skatepark. How about that scaffolding?
Joshua from the UK hanging out with his new buddies.
Local skaters saw away at a tree to make room for the excavators to pull through and level the park.
Local kids stoked to be in front of the lens!
Time to get rid of the existing mini ramp to make room for a proper concrete one.
The excavators level out the park.
Local business owner was welcoming and let me take his portrait.
Street dogs, everywhere. This particular guy owns this corner and seldom leave. Oftentimes you’ll see him lying in the middle of the street, like he is here.
Local ripper, Eyob, ollies his homies at the foundation adjacent to the park site.
Kids are coming out of the woodwork to check things out.
Stu gives the hesh approval.
Lots of unloading to do. Time to unload the rebar.
The ladies hold down the chain gang with a smile.
Volunteers from all over the world join forces to make it happen.
Things are coming along! Stay tuned for more updates.
All content: Mike Chinner