In Senegal, surfing to emancipate women

With a sharp blow, Khadija Sambe pushes her student’s board off. Once launched on the wave, it stands awkwardly on its legs, before falling into the sea head first. “We row, we accelerate, we push and take off! »shouts the 28-year-old instructor, water up to her hips and a black cap screwed on her long braids to protect herself from the scorching sun in the middle of the day.

On Ngor beach in Dakar, Khadija Sambe represents the women’s school Black Girls Surf (BGS), which promotes female emancipation through surfing and aims to ensure that black women are better represented in this sport. The program was created in 2014, in California, by American surfer Rhonda Harper, and a dozen schools now exist around the world, particularly in South America and Africa.

The first branch abroad was opened in Dakar in 2019, when “coach Rhonda” met Khadija Sambe, one of the first Senegalese women to surf professionally in the country. After starting on her own at the age of 13, against her parents’ advice, “Khadjou” took lessons in a club. Having become an instructor on Yoff beach, she was then spotted by Rhonda Harper, who took her under her wing and took her to train on the Californian waves.

“I feel like a mermaid”

Back in Senegal, Khadija Sambe wanted to give the girls of her country the chance that was offered to her. She provides classes on a voluntary basis, every week, and even every day during school holidays. Today, between 60 and 100 girls participate in the program in Senegal, making it one of the largest BGS camps in the world.

“Our training is free and is the same all over the world: fitness, surfing techniques, how to be a professional athlete, how to find sponsors or be a competition judge”, explains Rhonda Harper on the phone from the United States. His mantra: “You can’t become what you don’t see. In Africa, the challenge for BGS is to convince parents, who are more cautious than in the United States, to let their daughters go into the water. »

Since 2019, it is less and less rare to see women facing the waves of the Atlantic. These surfers are ready to impose themselves in an essentially male environment. “When I saw Khadjou surfing, I immediately wanted to do the same thing. I like it a lot, I feel like a mermaid in the water”, testifies Khady Ndiaye, 14, who started four years ago. Since then, Khadija Sambe has given him a board and is taking him to Le Secret, a famous spot in Dakar.

“At the beginning, my parents told me that surfing was for boys, but they agreed thanks to Khadjou”, continues the teenager. The mentor has become an example to follow, for young girls and families alike, who admire her ability to break through the glass ceiling. Khady Ndiaye now dreams of joining the national team and participating in the Youth Olympic Games in 2026, which will take place in Dakar.

“There are more girls in all the clubs, the parents are more willing to let them surf, it’s a small victory”, welcomes Khadija Sambe. Until a few years ago, this discipline was frowned upon in Senegalese society, which considered it a marginal sport reserved for “Toubabs” (white people).

“We are running out of equipment”

But as schools have multiplied and local champions have emerged, “its image has changed and more and more girls are interested in it”, assures Pape Samba Ndiaye, head of the Take Off Ngor school and coach of the national team. He too gives free lessons to young people from Ngor in the hope of finding talent, especially women. “During the last competition organized by the Senegalese federation, in June, each team had to be mixed to be able to participate”he rejoices.

However, the BGS project is struggling to develop in Senegal, while the federation has still not recognized its school. “We lack material, we only have seven or eight boards, it’s not enough”, testifies Khadija Sambe. Since its creation, the BGS camp has nevertheless managed to bring up a young athlete, Awa Seck, who has participated in several international competitions, such as in September 2022 on the waves of Huntington Beach, California, for the world championships organized by the International Surfing Association – she was quickly eliminated.

But the objective of this camp is not only sporting. “The girls we train can become professional surfers or whatever they want: filmmaker, teacher or actress”, aims Rhonda Harper. By surfing, his recruits have already begun to free themselves from the codes of patriarchal society. “These girls were educated to be wives and mothers. We want to give them the opportunity to have the choice and decide whether to become one or not., continues the Californian. It is in the water, she believes, that they may learn to know who they are.