Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Author

Building a climbing gym in Kabul


greenrandom

28-Jul-2010
12:09:34 PM

I think this is a pretty good idea. The basics of food and water are important and I do put money into organisations that help with these, but if your looking to change the world showing kids another way of life seems a pretty good way of doing it. It's really interesting hearing from people who are or have been out there doing the leg work in these sorts of places.

jake simkin

31-Jul-2010
6:06:07 AM

it is chaotic, frustrating but pretty rewarding. heading back from dubai back to Kabul with heaps of educational modules and media stuff to teach and hoping to start building a training, warm up spot for climbing before the wall gets made in November.

martym

31-Jul-2010
8:24:53 AM

On 26/07/2010 Jake Simkin wrote:
>originally I thought teaching skateboarding was dumb ideas as what is skateboarding
I'll second the round of applause - great work mate!
As a Youth Worker / Climber, my experience has been kids don't think about the world the way adults sitting behind a computer do - if everyone's skating, that's what they wanna do!

>when books, water and sanitation are needed.
To quote Bart Simpson "I didn't have a bath today, and I may not have a bath tomorrow"

http://skateistan.org/content/get-involved & stop correcting each others grammar!

crm114

31-Jul-2010
9:42:08 PM

Geez, there are a few angry types on this thread.

Some of these kids have basically had no childhood. That is important in re-building a society. Playing and doing something other than war etc. Being kids again. That might well be a very important part of the healing process.

Maybe there is a some more culturally specific form of play such as kite flying or bashkasi (I think I got the name right - the horseback game rugby game with a goat carcas) but maybe you who are bandying around words like "imperialism" and so about are making assumptions about a culture if you reckon that they can't, won't, shouldn't or wouldn't consider having a go at something western.

Maybe your very dogmatism is a projection your own paternalistic view of their culture which you are dictating for them, apparently for evermore. Imperialism of another kind.

If the money is not getting stolen or otherwise wasted or paid to consultants (like a hell of a lot of other money there), good job. Even better if they get something out of it.

devlin66

1-Aug-2010
10:59:56 AM

Jake, you have another PM in case you missed it.

There are 25 messages in this topic.