Longboarding for Peace is a global movement of peace, balance and justice powered by longboarders. We empower people to step on, step up and make great things happen in their communities.
In May, Boarder Labs in Vancouver, BC, sent David and his son Robert some Longboarding For Peace completes. These decks were designed by the co-owner of Boarder Labs, Rick Tetz.
David Milgaard spent 22 years in a Canadian prison for a crime he did not commit. He is one of Canada’s most well known wrongfully convicted persons. You can’t have peace without justice. This fall, Longboarding for Peace will be traveling to a number of colleges with David to ensure people learn from his story.
NETHERLANDS
We have some great things brewing in the Netherlands. Thomas Christopher Slager is teaching kids how to longboard, and selling t-shirts to pay for helmets. This June, Jesse van Hulst, and friend, Robbert van Haaften, will go on a longboard trip through several different countries. They will start in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam and will end in Kopenhagen in Denmark after 500 miles. Their journey is to promote longboards as a viable form of transportation.
AMESBURY PROJECT TORONTO
A huge thanks to Sheldon Norton who created a 17 minute film on our program at Amesbury Middle School in Toronto. In April we showed the documentary to all 600 students and they were thrilled with it. We also wanted to acknowledge the generous donation of thirty completes to the school by Landyachtz.
MEXICO
Cesar Bojorquez contacted us from Tijuana with this report. “In recent months longboarding has been growing a lot in this city. This is a great thing since this city has been through a lot. There’s poverty, unemployment, deportees and violence, and we deal with them everyday. There is a growing community of skaters, of which I am part of, and we mostly skate in a spot near Tijuana’s Beach. Once or twice a week a van full of kids arrives at our spot driven by Connie. She volunteers at a foster home and brings kids to skate. We really like her because, other than being really nice, she gives us lifts to the top. The kids really enjoy going skating. I was speaking with some of my friends and we thought it would be a good idea to help Connie by teaching the kids how to skate safely” We are working with Cesar to get the kids helmets.
ETHIOPIA SKATE
Ethiopia Skate began as a peer group of young skateboarders led by 16 year old Abenezer Temesgen. With the help of Sean Stromsoe, Aurelio Macone, Thom Estifanos, Addisu Hailemichael and so many friends they have grown this grassroots movement substantially. Their vision is to connect Ethiopian skateboarders with each other and coordinate opportunities for foreign skaters to link up with locals and skate spots around the country. They encourage the youth to attend school and to practice English with native speakers, while learning more about themselves through skateboarding. Ethiopia Skate also wish to see more public places for skateboarding and more access to skateboard equipment, as we help guide this influential youth culture. This is where LFP comes in. Thanks to Landyachtz, 10 completes are heading with Sean on his return to Addis Ababa this summer. A documentary of his exploits will be coming later on this year.