What is Extreme Leste? (https://www.facebook.com/Extreme-Leste)
Extreme Leste’s mission is to use extreme sports to build peace, empowerment and connect vulnerable young people with education opportunities
Age Target
Why Extreme Sports?
Goals
Vision:
To change the lives of hundreds of thousands of youth, in Timor-Leste and beyond, through extreme sports and creative programmes that develop creative leaders who change the world.
Values:
Background
Timor-Leste is a young country in many ways- just 12 years after gaining independence, more than 60% of its population is ages under 25 (2010 Census). While there have been many challenges, the smalll half-island nation is slowly becoming recognised as the next hot spot for adventure tourists and travellers. Surrounded by sea, with extreme contours and tropical weather make Timor Leste perfect for extreme activities. Multilingual (English, Portuguese, Bahasa Indonesia, and Tetum) and US dollars also contribute to making Timor-Leste a n attractive destination for both tourists and big-name extreme sports brands.
The introduction of new cultures from around the world into a nation that had been closed off throughout a 24 year occupation has resulted in high curiosity about new sports, music, art and fashion. With high curiosity and competitive mentality, Timor Leste is ready to surprise the world with their own style.
Poverty and Violence
Since Portugese colonization and the 24 year Indonesian occupation, Timor-Leste has suffered many tragedies. This history impacts on parenting styles and the young generation. Lack of education, training and employment opportunities, as well as nepotism and corruption make a new order of poverty.
There are lso high levels of school drop outs and uneducated young people. Washing cars, trash picking and hard labor or drugs, gangs and crime are sometimes the only option for making a livlihood for young people in this situation.
Skills and Trouble Shooting
No doubt but in Timor Leste are many NGOs working in youth programming. In the capital or districts. With unclear program and rush, some of the NGO seems like forced their program to the youth which in the future the results are nothing but a free t-shirt. Art and Music are some of the program brought in the name of a country and religion. In some art community house we found many “non-talented” kids that force themselves to learn art just to get out from family reality and crime.
With extreme sports as a new type of skills many youth generation will attract to try and be the best. With extreme sports their creativity will not just art and music. Sense of visual and audio will take part. With extreme sports kids will start comparing themselves to athletes from around the world and find their idol. Most of professional extreme sports athletes have a good life with good surrounding and life style. From health to education, from habits and discipline. Push the limit and never stop!
With extreme sports automatically they will learn how to solve the problem. Extreme sports requires creativity to get the trick done. Sometimes they also need to create their own obstacles. In skateboard, Handrails for instance. To make handrails you need to know how to use tools which will give them extra skills on tools. So in the end with the visual, creativity and tool skills they can create something.
EXTREME LESTE’s PROGRAMS:
The Search
The search is a 3 months program held in the capital of Timor-Leste, DIli which focusing on searching the best riders of 3 popular extreme sports in Timor-Leste. Skateboarding, Aggressive Inline Skating and BMX.
With 3 months intensive training, workshop and self building guidance the candidates will be prepare to be the leader and to be next instructor of upcoming program.
The program will be end with competition between the skaters/riders. The best three from each sports will conduct a peer-to-peer training in the next program.
3 Extreme! (Skateboarding, BMX & Aggressive Inline Skating) and Youth Leadership
3 Extreme provides a valuable platform of expression, creativity and self-development for children of all ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Using 3 Extreme as a tool for youth development, young people are able to have fun and engage positively with one another.
Extreme Leste runs 3 Extreme lessons for girls and boys each day, with peer skate instructors and student volunteers leading the instruction of students. All lessons are paired with a 1-hour Multi Media Based Education workshop to further build on the confidence and friendships realized in the skatepark.
The novelty of 3 Extreme in Timor-Leste especially in Dili are hugely successful at engaging with youth of all backgrounds, who are often socially excluded from participating in traditional sports like football.
While the program running we will prepare some of the best to be the leader of the community and teachers on the skatepark, Classrooms and workshop.
With extra class introduction of Surfing, Wakeboarding, Dirt Jump Bike, trial bike etc we believe that more youth will be involve and not just centralized in one venue.
Back To School Program
“CHILDREN – According to a UN study, approximately 25 percent of primary education age children nationwide were not enrolled in school; the figures for rural areas were substantially worse than those for urban areas. Only 30 percent of children in lower secondary education (ages 13 to 15) were enrolled, with an even greater difference between urban and rural areas. At least 10 percent of children did not begin school. These statistics were fairly consistent for both male and female students.” (www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61607.htm)
The goal of the program is to get children in Dili as a start enrolled or re-enrolled into the public school system. The program is divided into three semesters, with each semester being four months long. During each semester students study the equivalent of one grade of school, coming to the facility five days a week. Upon completion of the program students can apply for enrolment into a government school. The result of the program will decide which grade suitable for the children.
While the program running, Extreme Leste will prepare and find the sponsor/donor/ foster parents for each of the children.
Education plays a vital role in youth development, especially in Timor-Leste where 68% of the population is under the age of 25 and less than half the population are able to read and write.
With Extreme Leste program we empower participants to find solutions to the problems they face through trust-building activities and youth development forums. Equal to the time they spend on a 3-extreme, the students express themselves in educational workshops that explore topics by using creative arts, such as photography, film production, Recycled art, Furniture and Urban art.
The students will come from a range of socio-economic and educational backgrounds – with many who are illiterate or have never attended formal schooling – Extreme Leste uses multimedia and art to “level the playing field.” Both literate and illiterate youth can participate in our Arts-Based Education workshops equally, learning new multimedia and problem-solving skills together and promote themselves and the country to the eyes of the worlds!