I've just created a skateboard design for Sk8 for Gr8, which completely turned traditional education on its head.
"Sk8 for Gr8 is a progressive mentoring initiative that pairs up talented designers with children in need of the opportunity to broaden their mind-sets. Four workshops are hosted, in which the kids explore the processes of design: researching, brainstorming, creating and executing. The result is beautiful, child-inspired designs which are helping to begin knit a community together."
It was such a privilege to work with Ayanda. I think Ayanda and I are quite similar in that we both tend to get lost in our imaginations, and take so much joy in that. It seems the world needs some imagining, and there's a bit of magic in that. Always learning with a mind for others, Ayanda says that if he was president for a day he would "make sure all schools had art classes". I hope that one day he will be the psychologist he hopes to be, helping those in need with his wildly infectious imagination.
Our board design is called "Ncuma", which means "smiling" or "to smile" in Xhosa. That is how Ayanda inspired me - to look for the joy in life, grab a hold of it, and live by it. His wide, secretive smile breaks only sometimes, but it makes a wildness come alive in you.
More info: sk8forgr8.com
'Ncuma' design by Brad Harris, inspired by Ayanda Koerte
