Ethiopia Skate is an organization dedicated to supporting youth in Ethiopia through skateboarding and education. It was founded by Abenezer Temesgen & Sean Stromsoe in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. They are in the process of establishing a non-profit organization and have collected an international team of skateboarders and organizers to help promote skateboarding in Ethiopia.
They are planning to build Ethiopia’s first mobile mini halfpipe and move it around the city over the course of 2 weeks and will teach children the basics of skateboarding. They will then put the ramp in an accessible location as they build the first ever skatepark in Ethiopian history. They also plan to give at least 100 skateboards to youth organizations and local children as well as start to manufacture their our own decks.
Ethiopia Skate are in the process of securing the land but in order to make it official they need to prove they possess the funds necessary to begin construction. In addition to this international campaign they are also raising support from local sponsors.
If you would like to volunteer to help build the park, organize events, teach others how to skate, run a board shop and would like to donate boards, pads, or anything skate related please reach out to them at ethiopiaskate@gmail.com.
Ciné Kenya 
I saw that you posted about the Indiegogo for an Ethiopian Skatepark on you site. I just wanted to let you know that Abenezer is not doing what he says he is. We went out to Ethiopia in 2012 with a team of 5, including some builders, a filmer, and Simon Woodstock. We went to build ramps for Israel Dejene and work with the Ethiopia Skatepark Project (Supposedly established by some guys from Australia). Israel is a local guy with a passion to help the kids in his community.
First off, we noticed that the guys from Ethiopia Skatepark Project were not doing what they said they were. They had collected hundred’s of thousands in donations but there was not even one ramp built. They did not even have boards for the kids. They appeared to try to put on a show and we were told by locals that the had shirts and magnets for their cars printed quickly when they heard we were coming.
Abenezer was a local kid who came to the project when he heard about it. Abenezer is from a wealthier family in Ethiopia. When he saw what Israel was doing he teamed up with Ethiopia Skatepark Project and together they stole our photos from the kids Israel was working with and began trying to raise more money. Once this did not pan out, Abenezer and a filmer worked on a plan to build off of Israel’s name of EthioSkate and create Ethiopia Skate to solicit his supporters. Israel is a good guy and is really doing what he says he is doing. However, Abenezer and this filmer, secured http://www.EthioSkate.com & http://www.EthioSkate.org (Israel was using a simple tumblr account) so that they could send emails out with this domain, they redirected the domain to their Indiegogo and even utilized keywords to bring up their project in google instead of Israel’s real project. (Check it out for yourself – Israle’s real blog is at http://ethioskate.tumblr.com/). Israel is just a guy from a rough area of Ethiopia with a big heart. He does not have the web knowledge or means to build sites, etc. so he was an easy target. Through this Indiegogo page and website they where able to steal money from those who thought they were supporting Israel’s project. Abenezer even went so far as to go into their village and take boards from Israel that Black Box, Element, and others had donated.
So, I ask and beg that you please help us make this right for Israel. He is such a good guy. Feel free to contact Simon Woodstock, Ryan Ries and Tony Hawk to verify that Israel is the one and only guy who has and is making an impact through skateboarding in Ethiopia. He has the ONLY ramps in Ethiopia that we know of and they are put together with the minimal stuff we could find there. Our hope is to help him get a portable park that will last out there and in the future help him to build a concrete park, but we need your help!
You can check out the real video of Ethio Skate http://ethioskate.tumblr.com/video and his facebook https://www.facebook.com/ethioskate.izzy?fref=ts&ref=br_tf
I know this was a long email, but please help us to make this right for him!
Blessings,
Toni Frallicciardi
Ramp48 Skatepark
Ft Lauderdale