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

Khadjou Sambe surfs during a training session off the coast of Ngor, Dakar. "I always think to myself, when I wake up in the morning, 'Khadjou, you've got something to do, you represent something everywhere in the world, you must go straight to the point, don't give up, whatever people say, whatever they say don't listen, go forward so that everybody can get up and believe they can surf."

"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.

Khadjou Sambe surfs with her friend Madicke Mbengue, during a training session in Ngor. 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 adjusts her grandmother Madicke Mbengue's scarf, as they sit inside Sambe's family home in Ngor.

Khadjou Sambe surfs during a training session ."My determination was strong enough to make them change their minds," she said. 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,".

Khadjou Sambe holds her surfboard as she watches the sea in Dakar.

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. 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.

Sambe 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.

A man surfs at the Secret Beach in Dakar.

Khadjou Sambe waxes her surfboard.

Senegal's first female professional surfer Khadjou Sambe 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. Sambe 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.

Khadjou Sambe, 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.