STRONG AND PROUD | THE LOST ART OF GIVING BACK | BEACH RATZ

What is Beach Ratz? Beach Ratz is a question. It’s relentless doubt. It’s a contradiction. Beach Ratz is chaos. Confusion with a purpose. Beach Ratz is also what happens when a couple of beach bums move from what’s becoming a surf mecca to a beachless, freezing cold city. Beach Ratz is a website, an entertainment brand, a diary, a manifesto. One of the few real ways we can express our true selves. We’re judgemental, inclusive, bitter and stoked. We miss what surfing used to be and love what it has become.

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About This Project

Strong and Proud | The lost art of giving back

More than 20 volunteers from around the globe, 6 weeks of intense work, and a passion for sharing the love of skateboarding are the “only” things we need to change some lives.

Concrete Jungle Foundation is a non-profit organization that does two main things: they build skateparks for youth all around the world, and they run youth development programs at those skateparks. For their 6th skatepark, they headed to the village of Tameslouht, Morocco (just outside Marrakech), to share their passion for skateboarding with the kids of the “Fiers et Forts” center.

The “Fiers et Forts” center was created 17 years ago and welcomes unprivileged children living in extremely difficult and precarious situations. The center is usually contacted by the Court, with cases of children who need urgent assistance. “These children need a roof, a house, a place to live because the street is obviously not suited for them… and we welcome them here,” told us Dorine Karima Eijkman, the center’s Director.

The children that arrive at the center are often traumatized and in a state of shock, and so the challenge is to undo all the harm. This is why an Educational Farm was the best way to bring a sense of security to them. Some were scared of humans, so they needed to form a bond with animals first. Others needed to release negative energies by putting their hands on the ground and working in the garden.

When we walked inside the center for the first time we felt a vibration that is hard to put into words. Love was literally in the air. Every kid who saw us greeted us with a big and heartfelt hug.

“These children didn’t receive all the hugs they needed. It’s not an easy task… When a child arrives here, as a ‘mom’ all I want to do is give him or her a hug… but the child is scared. The first step is to protect the child, to give them a sense of security. And once the child feels protected, then love comes. And it goes both ways, they give me so much love too!” – Dorine Karima Eijkman

The center has been around for a while now, and some of the children there have grown up. Some of them are now seventeen and eighteen years old, but they find it difficult to leave the center. The solution for this challenge is the “House Of Transition”, located right next to the center. The grown-ups will continue studying there, following vocational training and developing the skills that will allow them to function perfectly in our society. And it’s precisely there that the skatepark by Concrete Jungle Foundation was built.

25 volunteers from 11 countries, 6 weeks of hard work under the burning Moroccan sun (sometimes even working late into the night) was what it took to offer the center’s kids not only a place for play, but for personal development. This is where Concrete Jungle’s “Edu Skate” program comes into play. The goal is to use skateboarding as a tool to develop life skills, for example, perseverance, creativity, teamwork, and determination.

“We work with children that have a lot of troubled backgrounds, and all these children they don’t want to get involved with very organized sports, but they are super open to a sports culture, community, that kind of is at the side of society. Skateboarding has the culture of being against society, and a lot of the kids that we work with, are super open to being a part of that. ” – Troy. development director for Concrete Jungle foundation

Also, in Concrete Jungle Foundation’s scope of activities is a program called “Planting Seeds”, which invites local skaters and teaches them how to build a skatepark. Mohamed Said, known as Hanota, is one of Morocco’s best skaters and was one of them. He is now working with Concrete Jungle Foundation at the center’s skatepark, helping with the “Edu-skate” program.

“I’ve skated a lot of skateparks across Morocco, so many I can’t even count, but I never saw how those skateparks were made and everything. And now that I saw all this, I was like, this is crazy!! But all the hard work we put in is worth it, I just can’t wait to skate it.” – Hanota

The skatepark in the “Fiers et Forts” was inaugurated on April 26th, in a ceremony full of emotions. It gave us chills to see the result of all this hard work, and to see the sparkle in the kids’ eyes. Each time we visited the center and the skatepark, it was extremely difficult to leave. We just wanted to stay there almost out of pure selfishness because not only did that place inspire us, but the atmosphere there made us feel so good. But don’t take our word for it and see for yourself, we highly recommend visiting the “Fiers Et Forts” center if you are near Marrakech, or anywhere in Morocco really.