(20/05)

Hieronder lees je een update door Jelle Rigole van het SISP project in Kovalam, India. Jelle verbleef er deze winter opnieuw om zijn surfproject verder te zetten. Er werd recent zelfs beslist een artificieel reef te plaatsen dat reeds in gebruik is.



No school, no surfingclass
By Jelle Rigole


The face of India is rapidly changing.

The middle class is growing and is attaining more economical power.

A wealthy, western lifestyle is no longer only reserved for the happy few.

Nightclubs are popping up and big brands are opening shops in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala.

This year I even saw a live hiphop concert and spotted some Indian women shaking their hips on the dance floor.

Sounds good no?



Unfortunately the struggle to survive for the poorest is harder than ever.

Life is getting more and more expensive and the already huge group of people living on the border of the society is growing.

Still children are forced to hit the street and beg in order to survive. Proper food and medical care, housing, love and education should be available for all children worldwide and not remain an idle daydream that fades away into bitterness while growing up. Still people are dying because they can’t afford their medical expenses and dreams get throwen into a thousand broken pieces.



By the end of April the dry season is running at it’s end and human beings, animals and land are craving for rain.

Unfortunately piped water remains a distant dream for most villagers in the Vizhinjam area.

A local family is forced to spend about Rs. 1,000 (approx. 15 euro) a month on murky drinking water. A huge amount if you consider that a poor household has an average monthly income of Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 3,000 (approx. 30-45 euro).

The monsoon rains will bring relief to a long period of severe drought. But will also cause floods, collapsed houses and diseas spread by the excess of water in the inadequate sewer system.



But luckily there is some balance in life and with all bad comes good.

With every heartbreaking testimony comes a sparkle of hope in another story.

In 2010 SISP sponsored the first two students to enroll in higher education. Two girls, both from very extreme family situations, dreamt of becoming nurses. SISP made an agreement with them and is now paying for all the educational costs. A month ago the girls came to the SISP centre with their first exam results, they passed all subjects. In three years, when these girls graduate, they will easily find a good job with a high salary. The future generations of their families will no longer suffer under severe poverty.



Surfing is also increasing in popularity. More and more kids come and surf the waves in the weekends. This year we even welcomed the first surfer girls to the Surfclub, very revolutionary for Indian standards.

I give them a board, surfoutfit and food for the day on one condition: going to school everyday.

No school - no surfclass. A rule that quite often seems to work.

Finally the Kovalam Surfclub is a registrated sportsclub and so the first official surfclub in India. Foreign tourists as well as locals are impressed by the surfskills of the local surfers and are really stoked on riding the waves as well. The demand for surflessons has never been so big. Some of the older boys will soon be able to make a proper living out of surfing, by offering surflessons, boardrental, boardfixing,...

A surfclub needs a proper place to stock all boards so I decided to built our own surfroom, so we have no longer the insecurity of renting a room for the season. Of course the new surfclub had to be opened Indian style with all the etiquette that comes with it. Incense, candles, flowers, a rope to be cut and of course kilos of sugary cake. The kids were so proud, and so was I.



Beginning this year the Indian government decided to built an artificial surf reef in the bay of Kovalam. The reef was designed by the same company who has built similar reefs in Australia, UK and Japan and has a multitude of advantages for tourism, fishing and surfing.

Unfortunately this year we had less surfable days because the reef only starts to work when the swell is above 3 feet but when it works it throws up a sucking barrel. When it goes off Kovalam now offers a good quality reefbreak and the level of the kids grows gradually with every surfsession.



The media is also getting more and more interest in the story of the Kovalam surfclub and it’s members. This year the Kovalam surfclub featured in two local and one national newspaper. Even a television channel came along and had a look after hearing rumours of indian kids braving the surf and a ‘crazy’ tourist man with long hair who uses a giant parachute to fly over the water. India’s first introduction to kitesurfing...



The most important is that all the surfing kids are regular at our school and therefore will get a better chance in succeeding in life in a more humane way. But surfing also makes them proud and happy because for the first time in their life they get respect and attention for being good at something.



Thanx to O'neill



www.sisp.be

www.oneill.be

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