Text by Fiona Killacky

Khayelitsha is one of the world’s poorest areas. Just outside central Cape Town in South Africa, it houses a township of desolate, poverty-stricken black South Africans struggling for survival with little access to education, employment and healthcare. Khayelitsha is also home to the first black South African surfer to win the national championships. Seventeen-year-old Kwezi Qika is quickly attracting international focus for tackling big waves and breaking stereotypes. “I have achieved something that will be there forever and I can now inspire others from the townships to follow in my path,” he says. Qika is just one of many black South Africans hand-picked and supported by Gary Kleynhans, a former South African surf champion looking to help his community.

Kleynhans has been teaching disadvantaged youths to surf, supporting them financially from the money he makes teaching tourists in Muizenberg for the last 15 years. Through the discipline, fitness and skill required to surf, Kleynhans also teaches kids to take pride in themselves and strive for something beyond the poverty they have known. “Out in the surf we are all the same and nothing but your talent makes you different,” says 18-year-old Theiko Sobe. “The ocean never discriminates.” Following the death of his parents when he was a child, Sobe lived on the streets, only changing his lifestyle when he was offered a chance to learn how to surf. “Surfing keeps me focused. It takes me away from all the worries in the world. It’s changed my life,” Sobe says.

Kleynhans is currently seeking sponsors and volunteers for a new project called Extreme Surf School. The school aims to help kids overcome their disadvantaged backgrounds while allowing his altruistic vision to live on long after he rides his final wave.

For more information visit garysurf.com