00:00Seen these girls before? On your socials or perhaps even on the streets of Addis?
00:05They are the Ethiopian Girl Skaters.
00:08Dressed in their traditional Yebehal kemis,
00:11these girls are on a mission to change the image of the male-dominated sport.
00:16Since we're Habesha, we have a lot of cultures, norms and everything.
00:20It's not that much inviting regarding to this kind of risky sport.
00:26At 26, Sosina Chala is one of the pioneers of female skating in Ethiopia.
00:31She's been on the board for 9 years and she remembers a time when she was the only girl out there.
00:39Back then, me and my cousins, we used to smash a water bottle,
00:43and I'm trying to stand on it and we push each other and we used to do that.
00:48So, that day I saw a skateboard, the boys were skating and it was fun.
00:55In 2019, Sosina founded the Ethiopian Girl Skaters.
00:59But that was the easy part. Convincing other girls to join her was a bigger task.
01:04When I ask the girls, like whenever I ask,
01:07you want to try this or blah blah, they're kind of willing.
01:10But whenever the boys are trying to approach them with the skateboard, they're kind of not okay.
01:15So I was like, maybe if I start teaching one of the girls, they'd be so happy.
01:19So whenever I go there, I give them my skateboard and I start bringing additional skateboards with me.
01:24Gradually, a small group of like-minded girls rallied around her.
01:28And they started meeting up once a week.
01:30I get them on social media. Sometimes I watch them there.
01:36And I was interested to skate.
01:41One day I saw boys skating around and I want to join them and ask them about skating.
01:48And they told me there is a session for girls only on Saturday.
01:55With more than 20 active members and 45,000 followers on Instagram,
01:59Ethiopian Girl Skaters have made a name for themselves.
02:02And while the spotlight has boosted their confidence,
02:05the sport itself has also taught them a few life lessons.
02:09To learn skating, you have to fail so many times and you have to not give up on skating.
02:17So it's taught me patience, confidence.
02:22For Sosina, skating has become more than just her passion.
02:26It's become a mission to build a community and create opportunities,
02:30specifically for the women and girls.
02:32And while society and their families might have been skeptical at first,
02:36Sosina believes that it just needs a few trailblazers like her to lead the way.
02:42We are like a daughter of very rebellious ancestors.
02:50So apparently we should have to be a little bit rebellious to do something creative,
02:59to do something for others.
03:01So you know what? Our parents are going to say something.
03:06Everybody is going to say something until they are successful.
03:10So we should do it anyways.
03:12And while Ethiopian Girl Skaters are new on the scene,
03:16they are definitely ones to watch out for.
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