It started, as so many things do these days, on social media and messaging apps. The wording on the flyer, shared on Instagram and Telegram messenger, was simple: “Free skateboarding lessons for girls.”
“I had no idea how it would go, how people would see it, if people would consider it acceptable,” says 24-year-old Sosina (Soisy) Challa, who posted the sign a little over a year ago. Challa worried that girls wouldn’t feel comfortable trying new things, that their parents wouldn’t allow them to come, that it would seem too dangerous—“all the ‘what if’ things,” she explains.
A few dozen women and girls, mostly between the ages of 10 and 25, showed up at Addis Skate Park for the first session. Challa had helped to build that park with her own hands, a few years earlier, back when she appeared to be the only female skateboarder on the scene in the Ethiopian capital city. On that first day, Challa showed the new skaters how to put on knee pads, elbow pads, and helmets, and then put them on the boards. She laughs recalling the enthusiasm: “People wanted to know what it felt like, and they wanted to get past their fear.” When Challa talks about skateboarding, that’s her emphasis: the mental exercise of making yourself do something, even if your body is telling you otherwise. “Skateboarding is like a drug for me,” she says. “It feels really good when you do it. But once I really started, I learned more about myself.”
Now, the group that Challa founded—Ethiopian Girl Skaters, one of the first female-only skateboarding groups in the country—has about 60 members. The Addis skatepark is open every day, but “Saturday in the morning is for the girls,” Challa says firmly.
Sosina (Soisy) Challa, 24.
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