00:00For years, kite surfing on Kenya's coast was seen as something for tourists, not for locals.
00:06That's starting to change.
00:08At the beginning, you know, I didn't know how to swim very well.
00:11Then from there also then I was thinking too much about how to acquire the equipment.
00:14Equipment was very expensive and how to start everything like, you know, from scratch was not easy.
00:19And that's when also the, you know, the slogan came in from zero to zero.
00:24So that's what gave me motivation, like, you know, without starting from scratch,
00:27then you cannot reach where you want to reach.
00:29At the center of that shift is Goodluck Shamala, founder of Kenya Kitesurfing School,
00:34a man who started at the edge of the sport, but now he's bringing locals into the center a bit.
00:40I want to be the first Kenyan to know to kitesurf.
00:43So that's what has been giving me motivation.
00:45Then kitesurfing, then being instructor, then from there, those levels, you know,
00:49when you have goals and ambitions, then they make everything much more easier now.
00:53In 2004, Goodluck was just a beach assistant,
00:56carrying gear for visitors on Diani Beach.
00:59Over time, he studied the sport, mastered it,
01:02and eventually turned that knowledge into a school of his own.
01:05That change is becoming visible in unexpected ways.
01:08I studied kitesurfing after my high school in 2003, and I was already familiar with the ocean.
01:14I came here in 2004, started working with one of the guys.
01:17The guy who started kitesurfing here was called Boris Polo.
01:20So I was supposed to be a diver, but once I came here, then I saw kitesurfing.
01:23So something which was new. Everything was just from scratch.
01:26So we have been here from 2013 up to now.
01:29We have been living well with the community, and I was so happy to join the community,
01:32because that was my target, that was my dream, because that's where the Kenyan locals are best.
01:37And where the locals are best, because this sport is expensive,
01:40so I said, okay, the place I have, it will be much easier for me to get the youth who
01:45are there.
01:45At least, you know, I don't want them to go through many problems like me.
01:49So it will be much easier at least to make them, you know, pick up this sport very quick.
01:52By making lessons more accessible, Goodluck is opening the sport up,
01:57helping young people learn, teach, and earn from it.
02:00You know the ocean works, so that's why you love the sport.
02:03So when I came to the kitesurfing school, I found that most of the instructors are male.
02:10Then I asked, why not female?
02:13Then I got the encouragement of trying it, so that later on I can also be an instructor for the
02:19women.
02:20My family supported me on this, and the sport, it's not something that you need a lot of power on
02:28it.
02:28It's just relaxing and feeling it. Kiting is about feeling the power. It's about playing with the wind.
02:35They were not sure if I'll do it, but to myself, I was sure on it, that I will do
02:41it, and I'm going to succeed in this.
02:44And also I want to push more women, society, that what a man can do, a woman can do also.
02:52Mm, if you want to resist on the ground. Pulling, resisting, swinging more down.
03:04What is happening here is bigger than the sport.
03:08Kitesurfing is becoming part of the new coastal lifestyle and part of how young people here see themselves and what
03:14they believe is possible.
03:15So it's like if you want to go more to the right, more like, more tension on the right, then
03:19a little bit of break, like holding it back. More tension on the right, a little bit of, it's like
03:24when you're landing.
03:24And for the locals, also tourists, they're also proud of us because when they see us, they're like, okay, this
03:29sport is not for only foreigners. It's also for the, you know, for the Kenyans, for the locals also, because
03:34we give them more motivation. So when they see us now, that confidence, comfortability comes.
03:38For a long time, spots like this were built around visitors. Now, locals are building something of their own.
03:46So when you see young people that we have brought up now, we have trained, we are so much proud
03:49of them because we see the changes now. And these changes are the ones which are making us happy because
03:54we can see them like, you know, they're self-employed now. Some, they're opening up their own kiteschool.
04:01On this Kenya's coast, the wind is no longer carrying only tourists and adventure. The wind here is changing direction.
04:09And this time, it's carrying local and even female talent into a space that once felt out of reach.
04:30All right.
04:31All right.
04:33You
