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Extreme sports enthusiast Edwin Hammond Meredith participates in various seasonal sports. During the winter, Edwin Hammond Meredith engages in snowboarding and ice climbing. In warmer months, he enjoys scuba diving, surfing, and skateboarding.
Learning to skateboard can build self-confidence and help children face their fears. For this reason, Australian competitive skater Oliver Percovich opened Skateistan, a skateboarding school for vulnerable Afghan children. For more than 15 years, the program has provided a safe space for children facing hardships due to political turmoil, poverty, and war.
The school was the subject of the short documentary, Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl). Directed by Carol Dysinger, the film won the 2020 Academy Award for Best Short Subject Documentary. The film follows the lives of more than 350 children who learn to skate in the Skateistan program. Girls make up more than 40 percent of the group. To counteract gender disparities in education, the Skateistan organization also helps support the girls in enrolling and staying in school.
