ASTANA – The Kazakhstan Skateboard Federation (KSF) has begun the construction of a cutting-edge skateboard park at SOS Children’s Village to promote physical and emotional well-being, the federation announced on June 2.
SOS Children’s Village, Astana’s only children’s home for teenagers. Photo credit: Kazakhstan Skateboard Federation.
The new facility provides a safe place tailored to teenagers from the SOS Children’s Village, Astana’s only children’s home for teenagers. KFS donates sports equipment to the children’s home and assists in providing scholarships to students who leave the children’s home with additional opportunities for employment at KFS.
The decision to build the skatepark stems from the belief that sports inspire personal growth and shape the future. President of KSF Zhandos Rakhmet said that skateboarding is not only a sport but a community with strong values.
“It is a true brotherhood where senior peers help younger people. We think that by implementing this initiative, we will assist young people living in children’s homes, who have been deprived of the most crucial value and support – their family,” Rakhmet said.
The construction of the skateboard playfield will be finished by the end of June. Photo credit: Kazakhstan Skateboard Federation.
The skatepark will be ready by the end of June.
SOS Children’s Village combines three villages in the capital, Almaty and Temirtau, providing alternative foster care. Unlike youngsters in orphanages, the children are raised in families by specially trained SOS mothers. The local departments of education select children based on the capacity of the facility and the needs of the child and the family.
Children live in separate houses in the village or an apartment in the city. Each family has four to six children, and 10-12 families, which care for 50-70 children, reside in the village. The facility carefully chooses and trains women who become mothers. They receive help from other professionals.
