AMMAN, Jordan -- When Mohammed Zakaria was growing up in Amman, he didn't know anyone else in the city who skateboarded.
"I got a skateboard as a birthday present when I was 10, and I didn't know you could do tricks until I was 18 and we got the Internet," Zakaria said. "At the time, I was the only skater here. It was really hard for me to skate by myself."
Zakaria and a team of volunteers came up with 7Hills Skatepark, a crowdfunded project that transformed a vacant public park to a vibrant space for Amman's most vulnerable kids: refugees.
Children from downtown Amman’s Al-Balad neighborhood, filled with thousands of people who fled their homes in war-torn Syria, now have access to the public skatepark -- and to the community that has sprung up around it.
The ongoing bloody civil war just across Jordan's northern border in Syria has forced more than 650,000 refugees into the country since 2011, many of whom are kids. With limited resources, they have few outlets for creativity and play.
"There are a lot of refugee youth that basically have nothing to do," Zakaria told me as he rolled a cigarette outside a cafe in Amman's hip Al-Weibdeh neighborhood. "Maybe I can pass on the passion that I have maybe skateboarding will change the lives of these kids as it did mine."
The 7Hills skatepark is located on small plot of land that was never used in this busy part of Amman; its sloping sides covered in vibrant murals now add a burst of color to the otherwise beige avenue.
"I was really surprised by the support we got from the international community, the skateboarding community and the local community," Zakaria said. The Indiegogo campaign for the park has raised more than $20,000.
Habibi getting gnarly with an ollie down the 3 block! #skatediy #MakeLifeSkateLife A photo posted by 7Hills Skatepark (@7hillspark) on May 25, 2015 at 4:43pm PDT
"The kids, especially from the area around the skatepark, were really stoked on it," he said. "The way the kids took ownership of the park was cool."
Because skateboards are fairly expensive and hard to come by -- especially for refugee children -- the creators of 7Hills Skatepark rely on donations. Last month, middle school students in San Francisco made 16 skateboards to donate to the park.
Sixteen complete skateboards on their way from San Francisco to @7hillspark and @crp_amman in #Amman, #Jordan! Decks pressed by middle school students of the Project-H Design class in #Berkeley, #California. Thanks to @atlasskateboarding, @510skateshop, and @dlxsf for the hardware! #MakeLifeSkateLife A photo posted by Make Life Skate Life (@makelifeskatelife) on Aug 30, 2015 at 12:58pm PDT
But Zakaria wants the park to be wholly owned, sustained and operated by the community. It's on its way to becoming just that; the kids and teens who board in 7Hills also help maintain it, cleaning garbage and dirt from the park's ramps.
"After the park was built, it was overwhelming to see how much kids embraced skateboarding, and it became such a big part of their lives," Zakaria said.
Seven Hills: Arab skating in Jordan - May 2015 from Justin Lovett on Vimeo.
Moving forward, Zakaria hopes 7Hills Skatepark will evolve into a formalized teaching program with a local school adjacent to the park, which was inspired by the NGO Skatistan, which has successfully used skateboarding as a tool for youth empowerment in Afghanistan, Cambodia and South Africa.
Zakaria wants hold weekly classes for students. Kids in the program would be required to maintain good grades to take part.