When I was about ten I had one of those massive, flourescent skateboards with thick wheels and huge hunks of plastic all over it. On the bottom there was a skull and some chains or something and below that the words: 'Street Ballet.' I used to spend hours in the street outside my house doing lame tricks and making sound effects to myself. It was F.U.N.

Perhaps more importantly, though, it kept me out of trouble. I'm talking about completely tame western-middle-class-kid trouble here, but trouble never-the-less. This is kind of the thinking behind Skateistan - a co-educational skateboarding school in Kabul, Afghanistan. The school tries to engage with the growing numbers of urbanised youth in Kabul through skateboarding - providing new opportunities and education. It was started by Oliver Percovich, Sharna Nolan and Travis Beard (who has a beard!). We spoke to Travis about who, what, where and why.

Why Afghanistan? And why skating?

We were all already working here and were already interested in the country, culture and people. It’s one of the poorest countries in the world. We have been skating since we were young teens. Skating is a great confidence individual sport. Afghan youth have no options for their spare time. They only have a half a day of school, so they have loads of time on their hands. They work for their family on the streets of Kabul and maybe they have access to some sports like cricket, football and volleyball. But that’s about it. Basically many are bored and this can result in them turning to crime and drug abuse.

Are there many sick ramps in Kabul?

They don’t exist. We are building the first. There are no skate boards in Kabul either. We have the only three. We are bringing in 60 more to meet the need

Do the Afghans need skateboarding?

They need alternatives. They need to be able to escape their hard daily lives. They need to smile, have fun and forget about what they have experienced and are still experiencing. Yes we do believe they need skateboarding.

So it's about more than kick flips and dark slides?

Yes it is. We hope to build confidence in the kids, motor skills, balance, and individual success. We also hope to teach them life skills that could be implemented by other NGOs who could use our centre as a platform to educate the students in anything from drug awareness, land mine awareness, health, sanitary etc. But mainly it’s about the kids having some fun.

Why were you out in Afghanistan in the first place?

I work as a freelance photo-journo here. Sharna was a researcher for an NGO and Oliver was working in hospitality.

Do you have any promising students? Any future Rodney Mullens?

We have six at the moment and within that we have two potential stars who have shown dedication, skill, creativity and commitment. We plan to make some of these six students the teachers of the future classes that will have up to 30 students

Has the reaction to the project from the community been totally positive or have you had any negative reactions from the government or religious groups?

No negative yet, all positive – inshallah.

For more information and to donate visit www.skateistan.org