Ayanda’s story with Surfpop

Ayanda Magwaza, once a shy young boy from Masiphumelele Township, joined Surfpop in 2015.

He would meet his friends after school to play outside in the streets, but one day his friends were nowhere to be seen. It happened time after time and so he started to wonder where they could be. When he asked them, they told him about surfing and the rest is history.

He was immediately hooked on the feeling of riding waves and the stoke he shared with the other children. He was determined to overcome his fears and challenges in the surf, to go deeper and catch bigger waves every time.

“Surfing has helped me in my daily life too, to be brave and keep my head up, to always keep going.”

Fast forward almost 6 years and Ayanda is a kind and honest young man, but also a confident, reliable and hard working employee at Surfpop.

When Ayanda joined Surfpop, he was the oldest child in the program, and as he grew older and more confident, he naturally became more of a leader to the younger Surfpop children. He enjoyed being in a position where he could guide the younger ones and lend a helping hand to the Surfpop team. This is when he realized that he wanted to work for Surfpop one day.

Today Ayanda is a surf coach, spending his time helping children in the surf and sharing the stoke. He loves to see the children experience the excitement of catching waves and is constantly reminded of his own journey too.

Ayanda is so much more than a surf coach, helping with every aspect of the program, as he’s been through it all and understands the challenges faced by children in his community. He is now learning more about Surfpop on a higher level, while furthering his education, having completed a short course in tourism and doing ongoing English classes.

Ayanda is dreaming about a bright future, seeing many opportunities to grow within Surfpop and to venture out into the world.

“I see my future growing with Surfpop to open other surf schools in Africa to teach more children, that will be good to me”