Ethiopia Girls Skate (2024)

A girl holds the hand of another as she skates and both carry a traditional Ethiopian garment called ‘netela’ in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia taken on February 17, 2023

Portrait of Semhal, one of the members of Ethiopia Girls Skate in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on February 24, 2023

The girls meet every Saturday morning in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on a long empty street in a neighborhood called Sarbet. They choose this spot due to the busy traffic on other streets that would prevent their ability practice skating. It also is a place where they are farther from people that may want to steal their skateboards. They meet at varying numbers every week. Some come already knowing how to skate and others want to learn. The girls are very quick to help each other when it comes to learning how to skate for the first time or sharpening the skills of another. Taken on on February 17, 2023

Portrait of Hana Beles, one of the founding members of Ethiopia Girls Skate in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on February 17, 2023

The skater group welcomes all ages that want to learn how to skate, however general age range of the girls are within middle school and high school, sometimes they can be as young as 6 years old such as this young girl who sits on a skateboard. Taken on on February 17, 2023 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The girls ride together from the downhill side of the road of Sarbet, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia taken on February 17, 2023

A portrait of Dada, one of the members of Ethiopia Girls Skate in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia taken on February 17, 2023.

Over the past several years, the presence of skateboarding has slowly but surely risen among the bustling streets of Addis Ababa. For Sosina Challa, this left no question but to want to be a part of it. Watching many others take to the streets, she taught herself how to skate but noticed there wasn’t much of a space for them and other girls to be themselves. Challa decided to host the first all-girls skating session where she met Hana Beles, who goes by Bee. In the beginning, Bee says, ‘I used to go [to the skatepark] and just watch her.’ After the two met, they formed Ethiopia Girls Skate, one of the first female-only skateboarding groups in Addis.

The youth culture in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia has been rapidly evolving, with new infrastructure being built reflecting efforts to create creative and engaging spaces where young people can gather and create community beyond their neighborhood villages. Skateboarding has meant more to the youth and to the development of Ethiopia’s future possibilities. Specifically for the girls, it is a way that they have defied social stereotypes that tells women that they aren’t able to engage in activities that boys engage in, or that they are meant to stay at home. Economic disparities between the upper and lower class have been known to cause social segregation in Ethiopian society. Forming this community centered around skating, forced the girls to look past their economic backgrounds and engage with each other–empowering one another to rise above social norms and foster a sense of confidence.

Oftentimes, you can find them skating together on neighborhood streets away from the bustling traffic of Addis, teaching each other how to do new tricks or balance on their boards. It’s here where you can see the clear comfort and joy that the girls have with one another. Bezawit Girma, their lead in communications, reflects on her thoughts about working with the girls: “I love them…there’s just some feeling…interacting with the girls, and just feeling like you’re making an impact.” The time they spend together does much more than just provide a place for the girls to skate; it’s simply a place where they can hang out and enjoy one another’s company. “Just being there, interacting with the girls, laughing, it’s not even about skateboarding. Just hearing everybody’s stories…their lives outside skateboarding…their school life,” Beza says. “Seeing these girls fall and get up, laugh it off, cry it off, it’s beautiful.”

Ethiopia Girls Skate’s desire is for people not just to know that they exist, but for people to understand how important and meaningful the community is to them. Bee speaks on the importance of having others know about Ethiopia Girls Skate and why it’s important that others invest in their community. “…they know of us, but they don’t know how hard it is to have this.” Over time, the girls were able to be recognized by organizations such as UNICEF and collaborate with brands such as Grind Like a Doll. Girma speaks of her future hopes for the girls. “I just want them to have opportunities, I want them to go see the world, I want them to compete, I just want their world to be bigger than what it is now.

Ethiopia Girls Skate is hoping to reach the world with the message and the core of what they do. Bee says that “It’s not just skateboarding; it is women empowerment, it is home, it is sisterhood, it’s breaking stereotypes, it’s beginning a new generation of freedom.