“I’m really happy, because before there wasn’t a dedicated place for skating,” said Rayan al-Omar, 18, who has been skating for a year. The United States-funded facility was built by Make Life Skate Life, a charity that has set up “free-of-charge, community-built concrete skateparks” in Iraq, Bolivia and India. For Make Life Skate Life, the “overall goal” of the skatepark is “to create a safe community space where people from different backgrounds can come together and positively interact in a playful way”, the organisation said. “Apart from creating immediate local employment, the skatepark aims to contribute to a healthier, more active, more engaged, and happier society,” it added. “People are skateboarding but also people come here to hang out, exchange ideas, have conversation, meet new people,” he said.

Source: Libya Today June 01, 2022 06:51 UTC