Skating brings kids together into Afterschool program in Casco Viejo, Panama

Like bees to honey, kids are being drawn into the old Santa Familia School. The reason: a very simple skating park has been built for them by the local Flow surf shop and Conservatorio S.A., a company dedicated to the revitalization of Casco Antiguo.

The reason behind the park, other than keeping the kids out of the street is to attract them to Aprojusan´s afterschool program, where they get not only help with homework, but emotional support, health checkups, lunch and even art workshops.

The kids seem to be having a lot of fun! although a tough sport, they don´t mind, their young bodies seem indestructible and after each fall they just bounce back into position.  Getting them excited was very easy, during the months previous to the opening of the space, many would keep asking… “when is it going to be ready?”.   Now that it is, the next challenge would be to have enough equipment for everyone.

With the help of Conservatorio, Aprojusan is expanding their facilities to be able to acommodate this new group of children which ranges from 6 years to teenagers. This last group has been typically the most difficult to attract as they perceive art workshops as childish. The new strategy worked out with Flow seems to be working, and slowly change is entering into their lives.