Senegal's first female pro surfer draws others in her wake

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, surfs during a training session off the coast of Ngor, Dakar, Senegal, August 18, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Growing up in the coastal capital of Dakar, Khadjou Sambe never saw a Black woman surfing the Atlantic swells. As Senegal's first female professional surfer, Sambe is now inspiring the next generation to defy cultural norms and take to the waves.

Undeterred by the postponement of the Olympic Games, Sambe trains whenever conditions allow in the powerful surf break near her home in the hardscrabble district of Ngor - the westernmost point of the African continent.

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, surfs during a training session off the coast of Ngor, Dakar, Senegal, August 18, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

"When I am in the water I feel something extraordinary, something special in my heart," Sambe said, wearing a t-shirt of the "Black Girls Surf" project (BGS), which helps Black girls and women around the world break into professional surfing.

Sambe is a proud Lebou, an ethnic group that traditionally lives by the sea, but as a teenager, her parents refused to allow her to surf for two and a half years, saying it brought shame on the family.

"My determination was strong enough to make them change their minds," she said.

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, surfs during a training session in Ngor, Dakar, Senegal, August 18 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Sambe now also coaches local girls, encouraging them to develop the physical and mental strength to ride waves and break the mould in a society that generally expects them to stay at home, cook, clean, and marry young.

"I always advise them not to listen to other people, to block their ears," she said.

Residents of Ngor have become used to seeing Sambe carrying her board through the alleyways leading to the shore. In recent months, she has used a house overlooking the ocean as a base during a visit by mentor and BGS founder American Rhonda Harper.

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, checks a surf board as she talks to her coach Rhonda Harper, the founder of Black Girls Surf (BGS), a training school for girls and women who want to compete in professional surfing, in Yoff district, Dakar, Senegal August 1, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

"I would always see people surfing and I'd say to myself: but where are the girls who surf?" Sambe said. "I thought: why don't I go surfing, represent my country, represent Africa, represent Senegal as a Black girl?"

(Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, chats to her mother Koune Ba outside their house in Ngor, Dakar, Senegal, July 31, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Young surfers who are coached by Khadjou Sambe, Senegal's first female professional surfer, and Rhonda Harper, the founder of Black Girls Surf (BGS), a training school for girls and women who want to compete in professional surfing, talk to each other at Black Girls surf school in Yoff district, Dakar, Senegal, August 1, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, carries her board as she walks through the village in Ngor, Dakar, Senegal August 12, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, adjusts her grandmother Madicke Mbengue's scarf, as they sit inside Sambe's family home in Ngor, Dakar, Senegal, July 29, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, sits with beginners learning how to surf with Black Girls Surf (BGS), a training school for girls and women who want to compete in professional surfing, near a fishing port in Ngor, Dakar, Senegal, July 30, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, talks to Diadou Ndiaye, as a young surfer stands by, in Ngor, Dakar, Senegal, July 30, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, holds a surf board as she talks to her coach Rhonda Harper, the founder of Black Girls Surf (BGS), a training school for girls and women who want to compete in professional surfing, as Koune Ba, Sambe's mother, watches on at their courtyard, in Ngor, Dakar, Senegal, August 12, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, watches her relatives prepare to slaughter sheep for a feast of sacrifice during Eid al-Adha, in Ngor, Dakar, Senegal, July 31, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, prepares breakfast at her coach Rhonda Harris's home, who is the founder of Black Girls Surf (BGS), a training school for girls and women who want to compete in professional surfing, in Ngor, Dakar, Senegal, July 29, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, stands in front of beginners that she is coaching with Black Girls Surf (BGS), a training school for girls and women who want to compete in professional surfing, while conducting a fitness training session, in Ngor, Dakar, Senegal, July 28, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Beginners learning how to surf with Black Girls Surf (BGS), a training school for girls and women who want to compete in professional surfing, sit on a boat as they prepare to attend a training session coached by Khadjou Sambe, Senegal's first female professional surfer, and BSG founder, Rhonda Harper, in Ngor, Dakar, Senegal, August 5, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, holds her surfboard as she watches the sea in Dakar, Senegal, August 12, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, coaches young surfers during a fitness training session with Black Girls Surf (BGS), a training school for girls and women who want to compete in professional surfing, in Ngor, Dakar, Senegal July 28, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, trains beginners with Black Girls Surf (BGS), a training school for girls and women who want to compete in professional surfing, on the sand at Yoff beach, in Dakar, Senegal July 28, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, talks to a young surfer in Ngor, Dakar, Senegal, July 30, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, carries her surfboard as she walks along the sea at the Secret Beach in Dakar, Senegal, August 14, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, surfs during a training session off the coast of Ngor, Dakar, Senegal, August 18, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, surfs with her friend Madicke Mbengue, during a training session in Ngor, Dakar, Senegal, August 14 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, and Rhonda Harper, the founder of Black Girls Surf (BGS), a training school for girls and women who want to compete in professional surfing, teach a young surfer during a training session at Yoff district, Dakar, Senegal July 28, 2020 REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, waxes her surfboard in Dakar, Senegal, August 13 2020 REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, trains beginners with Black Girls Surf (BGS), a training school for girls and women who want to compete in professional surfing, on the sand at Yoff beach, in Dakar, Senegal July 28, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Khadjou Sambe, 25, Senegal's first female professional surfer, coaches beginners learning to surf with Black Girls Surf (BGS), a training school for girls and women who want to compete in professional surfing, during a training session in Ngor, Dakar, Senegal August 3, 2020 REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Boats sit along a port in Ngor, Dakar, Senegal, July 28, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra