John AO started out to raise money to build a house for his family in Vietnam. Photo / Leanne Warr
John AO started out to raise money to build a house for his family in Vietnam. Photo / Leanne Warr
An American backpacker once saw a post about someone skating across Canada and thought he could do the same in New Zealand.
John AO, as he's known, was born in Vietnam but adopted as a baby and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He came to New Zealand just before the lockdown in March 2020 and has been here ever since.
He decided to skate his way up the country on a longboard to raise money to build a house for his Vietnamese family in Phan Thiet, in Binh Thuận province.
John said he was working with an organisation called the Catalyst Foundation, which built communities in poor rural areas that could be targets for human trafficking.
"We raised $US2500 to build a house in five days. We thought this would be a good platform to do some good with our fundraising in Vietnam."
While Vietnam was "close to home" John now considered New Zealand his new country as he had lived here for two years and had explored most of it.
John has been travelling on a skateboard up the country, starting out in Bluff. He stopped off in Dannevirke last week. Photo / Leanne Warr
He started his skating journey early in March at Bluff and made it to Dannevirke late last week where he stopped overnight before making his way to Hawke's Bay.
John popped into Dannevirke on his way up from Wellington. Photo / Supplied
He hoped to reach the top of New Zealand by early May.
John, at 23, had only been skating for a year. He'd done a variety of sports from football to jiu-jitsu before, but never skating.
"I've always done sports. I wouldn't classify myself as a non-athlete," he said.
He began learning to use the skateboard when he was living in Mangawhai.
"I skated probably six hours a day. Every single day. I haven't stopped. That's how you get good. You just skate everywhere. Live and breathe it. And it wasn't hard for me because I love it."
John would skate about eight hours a day on his journey, with time for breaks.
Having a background in long-distance running has helped him, "especially with the mental aspect of it," he said.
"It's a beautiful way to travel the country. It's the perfect medium, you're not walking, I think walking takes forever, and that's just because I skate."
John had also chronicled some of the people he'd met along the way with recordings he called Roadside Dreams.
He asked them one question: "What is one thing you'd like to do before you die?"
"Just to get them thinking. It's a question you should be aware of, you have a limited amount of time. I wanted to showcase Kiwis and the diverse perspective across the country."
He said he did get a lot of meaningful answers.
But while it would sometimes catch people off guard, it was intended to get people thinking.
"You can tell if someone's thought about that question before and even if they don't know then, maybe three or four hours from then they'll think about that random skater dude and be like 'hey, this got me thinking there is one thing I want to do before I die'. Just make like a change in someone's life in a small way."
He managed to get a photos of different sights on his way. Photo / Supplied
While the reactions of some people John met on his journey had been mixed, he said the journey had been worth it.
"We're in the process of getting the house built for my family and once I've finished with this I hope to go to Vietnam and help facilitate the money there.
"All I want to do is raise money for my family, spread positivity, skate all day. I put myself in a position to do that and I'm really privileged and grateful for that."
Follow his journey on https://www.instagram.com/jayo_skates_nz/ or at the website https://www.jayoskatesnz.org/.
