Ben Hermans grew up in Clifton Creek and was a regular skater at the Bairnsdale skate park.
Little did he know his passion for skating would take him on a whirlwind tour around the world helping build skate parks in developing countries with a group of volunteers.
After finishing his schooling at Bairnsdale Secondary College, Ben headed to Melbourne for university, but dropped out to go travelling.
While overseas Ben joined a group Make Life Skate Life, which formed after coming across a group of India skaters who wanted to build a skate park for their community but had no idea where to start.
The volunteer group managed to raise sponsorship funds and enlist the help of professional skate park builders to come to India and build a skate park.
Since 2013, the group has built about a dozen skate parks in countries that otherwise would not have had the resources to do so themselves.
Ben has been part of the team building parks in Palestine, Ethiopia, Iraq, Nepal, India, Myanmar and Morocco between 2014 and 2018.
He was even enlisted to build them in Berlin, Brussels and Budapest.
“It seemed like a good way to travel,” Ben told the Advertiser.
He says the skate parks given disadvantaged children the opportunity to get off the streets and into skating.
In many parts of the world kids grow up in difficult circumstances, suffering economic hardship and have nowhere safe to play.
Ben says the skate parks “give the kids something fun to do.”
“I know it sounds like a cliché but it gives them the chance to forget about their troubles and get in touch with being a kid once again.”e
Now 28, Ben is back in Australia and working with Grind Projects which is building the new skate park in Bairnsdale to replace the old one beside the All Abilities Playground.
Now living in Melbourne, Ben travels throughout Australia with the project team building skate parks in country towns and cities.
The Bairnsdale skate park is being built at a cost of $495,000 and is expected to be completed during September.
