Build It And They WIll Come
Father Christmas may be flying across the Simpson Desert with a bunch of skateboards in a few weeks. Nicky Hayes is an Eastern Arrernte man and pro skater on a mission!
Last year he built a skate park to engage young people in his hometown – the remote desert community of Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa). The problem is the program has been so successful he’s run out of skateboards!
“The kids without boards are turning up and running around the park pretending to do tricks so I started including cultural aspects into the program – to keep them busy! I’m getting local artists to paint designs onto the boards and the kids are learning about their culture.”
It’s Nicky’s dream to take his enthusiastic crew to the city so they can have a chance to meet young skaters from the city and make new friends. This is how Nicky became a pro skater himself.
“We need some new skateboards so the kids can practice and also blanks for our artists to paint up. We want to paint these blanks and sell them and use the money to take our kids on a city skating tour to Adelaide. I want to give Indigenous kids, both boys and girls –an opportunity to do something different… helping our kids, it’s what I want to do for the rest of my life!
If you can supply new skateboards or blanks for the kids please contact me directly on tom@bushtv.com.au and I’ll pass your details onto Nicky.
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