For Abnezer Temesgen and his friends the mornings and the sunshine are associated with skateboarding.
Most recently, anyone who passes by the Sar Bet area will be enthralled by what can be referred to as a typical urban scene. While some stop to see what is going on, others just go about their businesses.
Next to the Kera taxi station, there is a parking lot which is very colorfully decorated with graffiti.
The graffiti seem to express the love and emotional aspect of teenage life. Some of the graffiti read, ‘I see you’ with the picture of an eye, danger sign and ‘I love God! Hop u do’.
Like other mornings, Abenezer Temesgen, Henock Yitbarek and Natan Iyassu are skating on their skateboards.
They jump high from the pavement and continue their journey without interruption. Some of the tricks seem to be scary like the high jump over a bar and landing on the board again. They do this without any wrist protection.
They also practice on the slash grinds and front side/backside airs, kick flip and do different freestyle techniques.
Understanding the law of gravity, friction and centripetal force they race each other on their skateboards and some of the passersby look at them and on Wednesday morning one guy asked Abenezer if he can skate and Abenezer smiled and passed the question.
This is how they spend any spare time they have and strive to be a better skater. The scratches on their hands bear witness to their everyday struggle, in the infamous sport of skateboarding.
Abenezer, 16, is not new to pain where cuts and bruises cover his body. All that does not bother him; rather it gives him the energy to take more risks.
He was introduced to skateboarding, a sport that is somehow alien to Ethiopia, by a guy called Mintesnot.
He gave him the basic lessons and gave him his first skateboard. After that he was on his own and he started downloading You Tube videos to see the different styles such as Olly, flip, hard flip, jumping from the stairs, etc.
He also saw some of the reckless rebels who are associated with skateboarding and started grasping the punk sub-culture of skateboarding. He says that he eventually got hooked.
The young man is never afraid of taking risks. After he started skating one time he broke his skateboard after a car drove over it.
Fortunately for him, his dad, who used to live in Germany, got him a new skateboard. After that, he started teaching the neighborhood boys.
Abenezer is one of the people who tries everything and tries to get in touch with people who have the same passion he has. So he got in touch with Ethiopian Skateboard Project through Facebook.
He says that people are amused to see skateboarders in Addis.
Seeing their effort Ethiopian Skateboard Project started collaborating with the different projects.
The skateboarding, which began as a fun pastime, started growing, which also involved other boys and with the help of an individual from Finland they got nine skateboards.
Whenever they have free time they experiment using their skateboards by taking different footages and uploading the video on You Tube.
Abnezer also follows international competitions and different games. Michael Fasil, a graphic designer, makes their video, do some graphic designing and design fliers to promote the sport.
Now their recent project is dubbed ‘Greenboard’ which aims at creating awareness about the environment and simultaneously make the sport popular among Ethiopians.
They cleaned the area around Sar Bet and made it artistic, adding their self-expression and environmental expression.
It is not only in Addis Ababa that they were active. They actually skated for about 500 km to Harar for around eight days with the Ethiopian Skateboard Project.
On this skate tour, whenever they get tired, they take a break and ride in a car.
During this journey they took different footages which will be used to raise funds. The funding goes to building schools.
Now Abnezer is excited about the fact that he is collaborating with different organizations and doing something through his passion. He is deeply involved in the sport where he is extremely excited about meeting Tony Hawk, which according to Abnezer, is a skateboarding ‘god’.
For him it is a way of life. His attire and the scars on his body show to what extent he is involved in the sport. It is not only at Sar Bet area that he is involved in the sport. He used to go to the International Community School (ICS) and also to the neighborhoods around Wollo Sefer and Piazza to skate.
Sometimes they are involved in incidents where they quarrel with guards.
They giggle whenever they remember one incident when one guard actually beat up Henock.
Skateboarding makes some noise and he says this is annoying for many people. He says many people are not tolerant. He thinks sometimes the sport is very scary and at times the skaters get scolded by drivers. He thinks the road is big enough to accommodate skaters and drivers.
Despite all that he has a plan to have a skate park, a skate shop and a skate clinic.
Now things are changing for the better with different radio interview and advertisements.
Now he does skating, graffiti and video editing. He communicates with people where now the hit on You Tube video is increasing from time to time. He was also featured on skateboarder magazine and now organizations like Ethiopian Skateboard Project, Face of Addis, Sole Rebels and Ice Addis are some of the sponsors who support this project.
Organized by Abnezer and a couple of his friends, recently they had a street skateboard competition where they did a show using bamboo and many people showed up for the event comprising skaters who train with Abenezer and also skaters who came from different schools.
There were up to 16 competitors who took part. All skaters showed different tricks jumping heights.
There were awards of T-shirts and skateboards for the winners.
They are working on different projects like cleaning the city. Currently they are planning to hold an international competition to introduce skateboarding in Ethiopia and to make the sport popular and for this effort Abnezer and Henock are awarded ‘excellency’ award from Ethiopian Skateboard Project.
The other big project they have is to start a skateboarding magazine and now they are getting support from Facebook fans and instagram followers.
Currently, they are in the process of publishing their first issue. The magazine traces the start of skateboarding, the teen culture and passion for the sport. He says that he has been invited to South Africa to compete but he thinks he is not ready to compete at that level.
As much as he can he tries to change and do something through skating. According to him, he came across a shocking statistics where around 1 million children die in relation to water hazards.
Understanding how water is precious where many people walk long distances relentlessly to get it he is now collaborating with an initiative called Help for a Drop of Water to dig a hole for water project.
“We should not expect foreigners to help us. We can do it on our own,” Abnezer says.
Now he is planning to raise up to 70,000 birr for the water project. He believes he can bring a change. Waking up in the morning, he thinks about skateboarding, sitting on a computer he thinks about skate boarding and now thinking that he is going to make an impact with skateboarding is what excites him.
“Many people, including family members, do not get what I am trying to do. I guess they do not get it,” Abnezer states.
Now with the magazine he believes the sport will be promoted and now to reach more people what they are looking for is a spot where they can train.
He thinks the sport has staggered especially when looking at the people who are attracted by the sport.
“Sometimes they stop to ask us if they can skate,” he says.
He seems to be ambitious about the sport where he is also planning to have a summer camp.
Henock Yitbarek, a 7th grader, comes from Tor Hailoch area to sarbet area every morning whenever he can.
He started practicing with Abnezer a year ago and now he feels good about his technique and ability.
He is always eager to start in the morning and always likes to spend the time by skating. Now he does a 180, cutter grind and so many other tricks he watched from You Tube videos. He is sometimes scared of jumping from heights but is persistent in testing his ability on the streets.
“You cannot jump randomly. There is a technique to it. Otherwise, one might twist one’s ankle,” Henock says.
He likes to jump stairs and sometimes he is scared but takes risk in his life and his friends also dare him to do the unimaginable.
He stood first on the street competition and he is grateful for the deeds of his friend Abnezer.
Sometimes he mocks his neighborhood friends where he gives them the skateboard and teases them when they fall flat on their behind. For him skating has become a mode of transportation. He skates instead of taking a taxi.
For Natan Iyassu, an 8th grader at Millennium Academy, skating is the sport that puts his mind at rest.
He used to look at Abnezer and Henock when they were training so after a while Abnezer showed him some of the tricks and he started skating. His mother does not approve of him spending with the neighborhood boys but is ok with skating.
Not only skating he knows how to do videography, edit and post on You Tube. It has been six months since he started the sport and he was in trouble with the family especially with his brother related to the sport.
Whatever break he has he goes out to meet with his skating buddies and skate. Since it is not allowed to skate during the rainy season they will be forced to sit for hours. Skating under the sun and being chased of the guards has made the three friends inseparable.
For them skateboarding is not only sport but also friendship, competition, taking a risk in life and enjoying life.
