Actually, it is a bit sad that i have to write this post. Why? Not because of the story or the pictures. That is just great. More because that writing about stories like this one is needed as this part of a reality of african countries is totally underreported – the normal stories. It is an impression we get, that something like skateboarding is on the black continent something totally impossible. But even when in many way the developing world is a developing world without a question and many things that are normal or easy to accomplish in the industrial nations, is harder to reach there, it still happens. If it’s playing basketball at the university, chatting on facebook with girls or setting up new happenings. If it is the weekly swimming party in the swimming pool in Butare or the parties on friday night in Kigali and Nairobi, it is nothing spectacular. But it is something we never hear about in the media. That is why stories like the great story of Yann Gross is so important to tell.

Yann Gross went to Uganda when his girlfriend was working in the DRC and found the first Ugandan skateboarders who build their first little skatepark by themselves. The story would be nothing special when it would have happened in Europe but as a story from Africa it gets a different meaning or perspective. But that is good, as the pictures are great and the story is powerful and great to be told. I first read it months ago on a flight in the magazine ‘BBC Focus on Africa’ and always kept it in mind. Don’t know why i didn’t share it here earlier. Make sure to check the full series here. You can also order a ‘newspaper’ with the pictures from Yann Gross site here. And if that is still not enough for you, just watch the flic below.