And you’re gonna show us and some moves later, right? -Yeah, I will show you… -All rigth. And so, can you just tell people what’s the whole idea of Skateistan is? What you do it for? Why you do it?

Thank you, that’s a good question actually… And most of the time we are waiting for donations for the skaters to bring something in, to build this and they can come here to skateboarding We are providing everything to the students, like shoes, skateboard, helmets and everything they needed, so sometimes we have some challenges of getting everything in, Skateistan it’s a place where we help the students with skateboarding and education to make their future.

So you have your classrooms here as well… Yeah! We have our classroom, we have football, basketball and everything. So basically it just a big fun factory, you have land, skateboard, basketball… Yes, everything it’s possible here. Actually, we are providing a chance for the girls, you know that in Afghanistan it is like limited for the girls that are on the side of this sport, it is expensive to skateboard, so they come here and do it for free.

So it’s all girls or you also have boys? We have boys and girls, we separate this, today it’s Thursday, so it’s girls today. Okey. Cool. This is cooler than my school in New Zealand. -I want to go to this school. -Woao! That’s good man! -Thanks man! -Yeah! Thank you.      ♪♪♪ So you can see that was one of the coolest experiences ever, I think, that I’ve experienced, skateboarding with girls in Afghanistan is something very special, and they’re doing great things that.

Afterwards they’ve put on a big spread for us with cake, and tea, and everything. Incredible! I actually fell off, my friend Mike, who’s the UNICEF filmer, got it on film. I’ll show you the clip here. We’ve come into the city now, and we’re gonna see how the locals make ice cream in this traditional way that they’ve been doing for years, and you can see now we’re in the city center area so…

I’m gonna go meet the locals and see how they make the ice cream. -So, where we are, Airon? -We’re in Mazar. and we are here with one of the most famous ice creams, very famous all over Afghanistan, it’s called Ice Milk, so what they do is that they take milk, put it into this metal thing, and then they go on about like four minutes so that it can take a nap.

What they do is that they use salt with the ice here so that the ice does not melt quickly, and so they go on with that, and then they can add any other spice or anything into it, that the customer would like to taste. ♪♪♪ This shop has been existing for almost 70 years now, and if you go in you can see the old photos and the old times since it was in existence, but the good thing is that for these people their shop is open, winter or summer, it doesn’t matter, they are so good, And anybody who comes to Mazar would eat this.

If you look at this… The currency would indicate how old these currencies are, so it would start from right, from the King, The King was about 80 – 90 years ago. This currency is 100 years old, really? Yes, 100 years old this one. but this one here was from 1960. How long have these staff members worked here for? //Speaking native language// So this business have been left over to me by my grandfather, it went almost eight years of time running the business, and my two colleague here, each one has spent like 10 years here, 8 to 10 years here.

For me it’s like something that I need to keep intact, It’s been passed on… This ingredients have passed on from my grandfather, and I continue the business. -This is milk… -Pistacho… This is banana… So… Very nice… So, I’m the Australian chef or what? Bloody delicious! Thank you so much! Can you just ask him one last question? If he could say one thing to the world about Afghanistan or Mazār-i-Sharīf, what would it be?

//Speaking native language// So first of all I would hope that the world would hope with us that one sons will soon have peace, the most important for us its peace. And secondly that I want to tell the world is that Afghanistan is not only about what they hear. There’s so much more of Afghanistan, there are ingredients, there are food, there’s cuisine, there is Ice Milk that has been there for generation.

So I hope that we will have peace, I hope that you’d have development, I hope that more and more and more people would come from outside of Afganistan, and enjoy our culture. If anybody’s in Mazar I Sharif that wants to try the traditional milk cream? So if you come, you come to the Blue Mosque, the most famous mosque in Afghanistan, and right close to it is… -That’s the name…? -Yes. Okay, so we’re at the UN compound now, here’s my little room.

I think the real highlight of the day was just skating skateboarding with those kids, and meeting them and seeing such a happy project, you know? Skateboarding in Afghanistan with girls, I think there just says so many different things, and the girl saying that once she got into skateboarding she changed from a shy and tense person into an open confident person.

I think it’s so important to have activities like that where you can just have fun and lose yourself in the moment, and just 100% focus. It’s a lot more calm here, feeling, vibes… We have still seen a heavy military presence there’s guns are everywhere, but it does feel so much less hostile than Kabul, is this signature UN, blue helmet and a bulletproof vest, just in case, you never know…

It’s calm but there’s always a feel that something could happen. Tomorrow more plans, some streets, some street vendors, the bazaars. There’s also another bazaar that’s run completely by women, we’re gonna see that, and we’re also gonna maybe check out the hospital and things, but I’m just trying to give a fair even representation…

Showing the horrible things that Afghanistan has sadly famous for, but also show the positive things that it’s not famous for, like the skateboarding. I’m very grateful to United Nations and UNICEF for giving me this opportunity, because without it, like I’ve said, it would be quite difficult. All right guys! In case I don’t see you… Good afternoon, good evening and good night from Afghanistan.