SKATEISTAN – Afghanistan’s Girl Skaters Collective is Pushing Boundaries
— text by Rachel Khona It’s 11pm when I call up Jesse McConnell in Kabul, Afghanistan. While I’m sitting comfortably by my computer munching on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, McConnell is getting ready for another day of work at the skateboarding school known as Skateistan. Believe it or not, in this intensely conservative and often sexist society, boys and girls of all ages and socioeconomic classes learn how to ride the concrete waves like a California tween. McConnell thought it sounded wild too. “I couldn’t really believe it existed,” he said, but that unexpectedness is exactly what drew him in. Of course many of us are drawn to curious adventures, like skydiving, roller coasters, nose jobs, and feeding wild monkeys, but a majority of them don’t always follow through. So how does a nice boy from South West England end up volunteering in Kabul? Let’s rewind. Australian Oliver Percovich was just another veteran skater when he accompanied his social scientist girlfriend on her research trip to Afghanistan. With his skateboard in tow, Percovich …