N: 38°42’20.56″ W: -9°23’51.83″
In October, we had the pleasure of meeting António in Lisbon, where we talked about the Surfrider Foundation. Little did we know that he was involved in many more surf-related things. This article is about his NGO Surf Social Wave.
Surfing helps people to get their lives back on track
When meeting António back in October, I was very interested in his stories about the Surfrider Foundation. He did tell me all about it and together we spoke about how we can integrate the knowledge and activities the SRF is doing with e.g. school trips with surfing. He told us as well about his NGO Surf Social Wave and this turned into a truly inspiring story.
Read on after the photo…
He explained me that this organization focusses on people who are unemployed or do face another type of distance to the labor market. SSW has a 3-month program in which they try to inspire the people taking part through workshops, lectures and – of course – surfing.
Mario’s experiences
When hearing this from António, it was hard for me to imagine how this would work exactly. Therefore I asked him whether there would be a former participant of the program who would potentially be interested in sharing her/his experiences with me. António informed me that Mário was such a person and this conversation turned out to be a very interesting and inspiring one.
The story of Mário was so joyful to listen to. For over an hour, I just looked at him smiling while telling me about the organization, about António and about how his own life fully turned around. To me it came much clearer about what Surf Social Wave is doing and how that can benefit people taking part.
Pictures: Surf Social Wave