Zeka stands on the edge of a halfpipe and waits for the right moment. When it gets quiet around him, he pushes off with his foot. Then he slides down a ramp on his skateboard as if he were riding a wave. The skate park is crowded that day, Zeka has to be extra careful. He cannot rely on his eyesight. The 15-year-old is blind. Many of the other boys and girls in the skate park are deaf. They cannot draw attention to themselves with words. Therefore, the most important rule on the grounds is: be considerate. Only now and then do the skaters accidentally bump into each other or collide. Then they hug each other shortly or clap their fists together in friendship. And on it goes.

Zeka trains in a skate park in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. Not far from the skate park, cars crowd the after-work traffic and honk their horns. On the side of the road, one stall follows the next, men hand chilled drinks over the counter and roast meat over an open fire. "Kapana", grilled, spicy strips of beef, can be bought on every corner here. There is no sign of the hustle and bustle of the city in the skate park. You can hear the wheels rolling, sometimes someone laughs. Otherwise: nothing but concentrated silence. The facility is located right next to a school campus. Children with mental or physical disabilities, like Zeka, learn and live there.

Zeka came to the hospital when he was five years old. The doctors told him that he had eye cancer. Shortly afterwards, the boy lost his sight almost completely. Nevertheless, he can still perceive strong light-dark contrasts. "In the morning I recognise that it is light and in the evening that it is getting darker and darker," he says. Zeka remained in treatment for one and a half years, and he still goes for regular follow-up examinations. The time in hospital was not easy for the boy. "But now I'm feeling really good again," says Zeka as he walks purposefully from the skate park to the school building - for a quick visit to the toilet.

It almost seems as if he has an inner compass that shows him the way. Zeka has become accustomed to listening, smelling and feeling carefully. For example, how the ground changes under the soles of his shoes. Zeka does not need aids such as a blind man's stick on the school grounds or when skating. "I know my surroundings inside out," he says and grins. "I never get lost."

Zeka has been living in a boarding school for many years, far away from his family. This is not unusual in Namibia. The distances in the sparsely populated country are often far too great to travel to and from school every day. But Zeka feels comfortable at the boarding school. "I spend the whole day with my best friends, that's cool," he says, beaming. The 15-year-old shares his room with nine other boys. The room is reminiscent of a simply furnished youth hostel: bunk beds are lined up close together, the foam mattresses are full of holes and worn out.

Zeka's mother had to move to northeastern to the north-east of Namibia for her work. "She has set up her own little kiosk there," says Zeka. It takes about seven hours to get to the remote region by car. Much too long for a weekend visit. That's why his uncle, who also lives in Windhoek, picks him up on days when he doesn't go to school. Zeka only spends his holidays with his mother in the north-eastern tip of Namibia. It looks very different there than in the centre of the country: Large rivers run through the region and give wild animals like crocodiles and hippos a home. Windhoek, on the other hand, is dry and surrounded by barren mountains.

How diverse Namibia is can also be seen in the different languages. In government offices and in court, people speak English, the official language in Namibia. A large part of the population also speaks Afrikaans. The language is one of the official languages of South Africa and sounds almost like Dutch. At home, however, most people speak the language of their ethnic group. That's why you hear many different languages in the dormitory: Otjiherero and Oshivambo mix with English and Afrikaans. Zeka understands everything. "In Namibia, four languages are not that many," he says with a laugh.

Zeka's favourite subject at school is physics. But he likes the afternoons after class the most. Then he can finally go back to the skate park, like today. Zeka has been training almost every day for two years. An aid organisation opened the facility a few years ago. Because there are hardly any free hardly any in Namibia. Skating is supposed to strengthen the self-confidence of the children and young people - and show them that they can master any situation: fall down, get up, carry on.

Around half past five, the children pack their skateboards under their arms. Time for dinner at the school. Zeka performs another trick. And one more. Only after the third request of a teacher does he jump off his skateboard. He says he felt insecure during his first attempts two years ago. That's why at the beginning he only stayed in the "bowl", a pool embedded in the ground. It's easier to skate in than on the halfpipes. In the meantime, Zeka rolls effortlessly up and down all the ramps.

And if he falls down? Then he gets up again and continues. "Skating makes me strong," he says. Now he really has to get going for dinner. Zeka exits the park. It won't be long before his inner compass leads him back there.