EcoSurfistas is an educational project that combines Surf and Permaculture with underprivileged youth in Bahia developed by OPA with the support of Fokust Alliance, a budding California clothing company that brings together the efforts of snowboarders, surfers, artists, hip-hoppers and activists. No Enemy, a Santa Cruz surf clothing company has donated organic fair trade clothes for the kids. Participants enter a program, which includes Surf Training and Environmental Awareness through Permaculture techniques. The curriculum has been developed with a focus on the ocean and all the pollutants that go into it, such as trash, sewage and chemicals, and from there the students learn all the principles of Permaculture and how to apply them in their lives. The main objective of this project is to support a healthy life style through the practice of surf while educating and opening new doors to very low-income youth, encouraging them to open their minds to new ways of looking at problems and generate their own solutions. The surfboards used in the program have the “ecosurfista” logo with the intention of creating an Environmentally Conscious and Socially Aware Surf Team that will grow together, enter competitions and pass on information they learned through the program to other surfers and the community at large. This project has been launched in the community of Diogo, a small fishing town in the surroundings of Salvador that faces rapid expansion due to its amazing natural surrounding and recent business and tourism investments in the region. These facts affect Diogo in a negative way due to the lack of care for the local residents, and general lack of environmental and social responsibility by the developers. OPA believes that the Eco-Surfistas Project will be a positive force in helping Diogo towards a more sustainable future. Our goal is to expand this program to other areas of Bahia.

DONATIONS are welcome. 

• Circo Água Viva
• Urban Permaculture
• Veggie Oil