The Uganda Skateboard Union is “setting out to combat idleness and boredom among the youth of Uganda by providing a new, positive and fun outlet for them. This outlet is Skateboarding. The Organisation will focus on teaching and training Ugandan youth how to skateboard.” Their blog has many cool photos of kids grinding, kickflipping, McTwisting, and varial heel flipping.
The library holds a few skateboarding magazines in the Young Adult section: Transworld Skateboarding (website) and New Zealand Skateboarder. By the way.
Kevin Gacheru
Hey,
My name is Kevin Gacheru (AKA) Gashes. Am from Kenya in Africa, Nairobi being it’s capital city.
I am writing this mail because we have a BIG PROBLEM down here. Am a skater, been doing it for almost an year now. My friends and I are some of the pioneers of skate boarding IN THIS COUNTRY! This being the case, we face a lot of problems. One of the biggest problems being the gear we use. If you go to ANY SHOP that sells skate boards, the ONLY brand you will find is “Jorex” Yes! Every Shop in KENYA is selling a FAKE brand that doesn’t exist!!! When we ask them why they cannot import original brands like: Blind, Death Box, Flip, Birdhouse, Element e.t.c, the answer they give is that “Jorex” Skate boards are the cheapest to acquire from their suppliers and so it’s lighter on their pockets.
Now my friends and I REALLY DON’T CARE about that, all we ask is to get genuine boards, that wont break after landing 10 Ollies. I am now on my second board and by the way it looks, I think I’ll be buying another one pretty soon.
There isn’t ONE SINGLE Skate park in the ENTIRE COUNTRY!!! So naturally, my friends and I do Street Skate which has resulted in us being arrested twice for skating on private parking lots. People don’t know this but, Kenya is a GOLD MINE. There are a lot! and I mean a lot! of guys who want to skate, but don’t have a place to go. Some people don’t have the guts to do Street Skate like we do, so they just skate in their Hoods which I might add are not well tarmacked and have HUGE pot holes and cracks on the road. So my thought is, whom ever will open the first skate park in this country, will stand to make A LOT OF MONEY! (EASY!)
My friends and I listen to rock, I personally listen to Hardcore Metal, and my favorite band being HATEBREED! So, this fact makes us stand out from the rest of the Poor, Stereo Type souls and their lame lives. So yeah, people ALWAYS stare at us and wonder what went wrong in our up bringing.
Why am I writing this mail?
Am just frustrated with it all! The FAKE Boards, the Cops, the Staring, the STEREO TYPE civilians, EVERYTHING!
Wish I could just…
…leave…
…and go somewhere else… away from here!
Will anyone please help us?
Will anyone please help me?
Desperate cry…
From:-
codenamegashes@yahoo.com
Cell: +(02) 254 0710 821 992
P.O. Box: 51396 – 00200
Nairobi (Kenya)
Kevin wang'ombe
Hey,
my names kevin wang’ombe aka o.b i live in nairobi,kenya…theres one thing i’m frustrated bout,skateboarding in kenya,is not recognised at all, i’m tired of all the joerex,fake boards,u cannot land a boneless without it breaking ,wt i’m tryin’ to say is,actuali i’m crying 4 help smebody needs to recognise skateboarding in kenya,PLEASE,I think i’m the only one who skates in my hood,and all i get is stereo typical stares whenever i bail , coz there’s no where else we can do it!there’s not one skatepark in this country!we need to fight this! We need better equipment ..nd recognition
from flixxangel@yahoo.com cell;0714 357 449