The Surfer Kids was founded by husband and wife (and Unravel Surf Travel Co-Founders) Hermann and Jenya in 2010. The Surfer Kids was originally established as the social outreach arm of Unravel Surf Travel. Today it is an independently registered non-profit organization based permanently at Diaz Beach, Mossel Bay. The NPO is 100% donation-based and works to create youth-empowerment in an impoverished South African township.
Mission statement: ” The empowerment of marginalized and impoverished youths through character building activities that teach commitment and dedication. Our primary medium for achieving this objective is surfing.”.
The Surfer Kids primary vehicle for empowerment is its Core Surf Program which runs five days a week and accommodates up to 50 children from one of Mossel Bay’s poorest communities. The program has its own surfing and skating center and employs a team of senior and junior coaches, multiple lifeguards and full time teacher from the same township community.
Unravel Surf Travel continues to provide ongoing support, including an Outreach Day with The Surfer Kids on all Surf Trips. This allows surf trip guests to experience surfing with the program’s children, in a safe and supervised environment. It creates a unique opportunity to submerge in “real” South Africa.
In August 2021 we launched Bitcoin Ekasi project. Bitcoin Ekasi is an extension of The Surfer Kids Non-Profit, (Mossel Bay, South Africa), inspired by Bitcoin Beach (El Zonte, El Salvador)
Similar to what Bitcoin Beach did in El Zonte, El Salvador, Bitcoin Ekasi aims to use a well established community platform (The Surfer Kids NPO) to create a Bitcoin economy in the township already serviced by that non-profit organization.
Wait. How exactly does this work?
The Surfer Kids’ existing program operates 5 days a week, all year round, and is run by coaches from the same township community.
Bitcoin Ekasi pays these coaches’ salaries with Bitcoin, while simultaneously on-boarding township vendors to accept Bitcoin as payment. This allows the coaches to spend their SATs buying groceries in the township, thereby introducing Bitcoin into the township economy.
All of this happens over the Lightning Network. Bitcoin’s layer-two scaling solution, designed to expand the transaction throughput of the Bitcoin network to a truly global scale.
A Bitcoin economy in a South African township?
But why?
First.
To expand upon the empowerment already effected in this community by The Surfer Kids and, through Bitcoin, spread that empowerment wider than the physical limits of the organization itself.
Second.
To show that it’s possible. Because debates around ‘why Bitcoin cannot work’ all miss the point. It is already working.
If you are a change-maker, a traveler who wants to experience Bitcoin adoption and Visit The Surfer Kids and Bitcoin Ekasi, join one of our
Unravel Surf Travel 