Riding the waves towards empowerment in Arugam Bay
Pic courtesy Martina Burtscher
It’s about breaking barriers and community norms by enabling surfing to become a more culturally accepted and recognized sport for Sri Lankan women. This is simply the vision of the Arugam Bay Girls Surf club.
The club which was founded in 2018, is the first female surf club in Sri Lanka that seeks to empower women through surfing. We got the chance to speak with Tiffany Carothers, one of its founding members. Tiffany had been in the country since 2015 and had been conducting the ‘Girls Make Waves’ surf lessons on a weekly basis in Arugam Bay. Through this, for the first time, women had the chance to learn the sport in a safe space.
Hailing from a surf community, these girls are easily drawn to the sport. But continuing it was not an option for many of them. Back on land, they had to fight against society’s expectations. In fact as Tiffany recalls, some girls had to stop surfing. Thus, apart from a few exceptions, surfing remained a man’s domain in Sri Lanka, till recently. In 2017, Tiffany met Martina Burtscher, who was in Arugam Bay to conduct research on the potential of surfing for women’s empowerment. Through Tiffany, she met several girls from Arugam Bay.
By sharing their experiences and hearing the stories of other female surfers from Sri Lanka, Tiffany and Martina felt inspired to push women’s surfing to the next level.
The pair founded the club in August, last year with the intention of promoting surfing as a culturally accepted sport, empowering women, whilst also creating a safe space for them to learn to surf. Currently the club has 17 members ranging in age from 11 to 40 years all of whom are from the village in Arugam Bay.
Their journey thus far has not been an easy one, and the freedom to surf has been hard won, Tiffany tells us. She points out that this stems from the community being uncomfortable with the idea of women being involved in a male-dominated sport.
She recalls instances where some of the girls had their families questioning them on why they weren’t in their homes “working where they belonged.” The girls also had to deal with the negative comments from the villagers, who scoffed at the idea of a female surfer.
The club also had to face challenges internally, which was particularly in the form of its members having to overcome their fear of the ocean first.
“Many of them lost family members in the tsunami, and it took alot for them to just even go out into the ocean,” she recalls.
Progress was gradual, and they would work on small but significant steps like learning to swim or submerging their heads under water. Some had to be pushed on boards to catch waves. But within the last six months, Tiffany tells us many of them have begun to catch their own waves. “Their skills are improving and love for surfing is only growing.”
In terms of making the club official, the support of the Surfing Federation of Sri Lanka gave them the confidence and “backbone” to come forward and start a club. Tiffany also commends the club’s facilitators Amanda Prifti and Martina Burtscher, who worked tediously to develop their constitution and help get the club initiated.
“The Surfing Federation was wonderful and met with us, helping us to understand the process and what was needed to become a club and to be registered as the first female surf club under them,” she recalls.
She adds that it has been refreshing to have the support of media organizations, social media platforms and encouragement from other women surfers after the many years of negative feedback.
The club has also received the support from Australian Aid and Skills for Inclusive Growth, and will soon begin a new project to train members for the benefit of using surfing in tourism.
This will consist of more training, from swimming, surfing, to teaching, language classes, and becoming ISA certified.
Tiffany also shares that while many of them surf during the week when they have time, they would like to participate in future competitions and use their surfing skills for an income. “We hope to represent Sri Lanka in the Olympics as the female surf team, and we’ll continue to surf because we love it.”
In the meantime though, their main goal is to inspire women of all ages, both in Sri Lanka and all over the world, to “find the joy in surfing and be outside, enjoying nature and the amazing ocean.”
For more information check their Facebook page www.facebook.com/abaygirlssurfclub/