News...

Umthombo Street Children on BBC 5 Live...May 2008     

Street Action partner's Mandi Ngantweni-Hewitt and Tom Hewitt from Umthombo Street Children, South Africa are currently in the UK.  Mandi Ngantweni–Hewitt, a former street-child and now working for Street Action’s pioneering partner Umthombo Street Children, gave a moving and insightful interview about her story growing up on the rubbish dumps in East London, South Africa and finding herself living on the streets.  

Both Mandi and Tom spoke about the issue of street children in South Africa and the opportunities that the 2010 World Cup brings to clearly focus on ensuring that the issue street children is not neglected or ignored during the run up to the competition. You can listen to their interview by downloading the podcast: Listen to the podcast...click here.

Reflections from the South African streets...April 2008     

2008 is an unique time for Street Action as for most of this year co-director Joe Walker will be working alongside our partners in South Africa and Burundi as well as developing connections with other street children organisations in Southern and Eastern Africa. 

Every month we plan to publish a series of reflections from South Africa and Burundi later in the year. Our partnerships with Umthombo and New Generation is about developing a deep understanding of the context that they work in and listening to the experiences and challenges of the teams that we support. Most importantly it is about building relationships and listening to the street children and the former street children we serve. Read more...Click here.

Re-learning the streets...March 2008     

Street Action co-director Joe Walker has been in Durban, South Africa for the last two weeks.  He will be based in Durban, South Africa for the next nine months and will also travel to Burundi to visit Street Action partner New Generation in Bujumbura. 

Street Action’s presence in South Africa working with and learning from are partner Umthombo will play and important part in our development over the coming year.  For Joe it is also an opportunity to re-connect with the work in Durban and to build relationships with the Umthombo staff and the street children. Read more...Click here.

Learning from the grassroots ...February 2008     

Street Action co-director Joe Walker will be going out to South Africa at the end of February for nine months.  He will be based in Durban and will spend time with working with Street Action’s partner Umthombo as well as travelling to Burundi to meet up with New Generation in the capital Bujumbura. 

Street Action’s investment on the grassroots through Joe’s time in South Africa and Burundi will strengthen our partnerships and develop further our understanding of the issues we’re advocating and how we shape and frame influencing agendas and processes of debate that emerge. Read more...

2010 and beyond - creating a future with street children in a changing South Africa...January 2008     

Street Action has been invited by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Street Children to give a presentation on the current situation of street children in South Africa.

Tom Hewitt, chair of Street Action partner Umthombo in Durban South Africa will be over in the UK and will be our main speaker at this event.  With the eyes of the world on South Africa in two and half years time as the country hosts the Fifa Football World Cup, this provides a unique opportunity to highlight the situation of street children in the country and for organisations like Umthombo to promote a better understanding of the issues many, many children continue to face.

For more information about the event please go to our Events page.

Going home for Christmas?...December 2007    

Not if you're forced to survive on the streets due to poverty, abuse and neglect.  With nowhere to call home, this us the reality for many street children this Christmas.  Help bring home and change lives by supporting the Street Action Appeal this year.  Our partners, New Generation in Burundi and Umthombo in South Africa, are enabling many street children to seek a life away from the streets and find new homes.

To make a donation you can either make a payment directly to our bank account which you can find on our Funding page.  Or alternatively you can send a cheque payable to Street Action.

Where are Durban's Street Children?...November 2007    

News from Durban, South Africa has just been sent to Street Action from our partner Umthombo. This Sunday 25 November Durban is hosting Fifa's preliminary group draw for the 2010 World Cup which will be staged in South Africa.  Utmhombo sent us this alarming article from the Daily News about the round-up of street children prior to the event this weekend.

This article was written by Sharlene Packree and Heinz de Boer.  It was orginally published on page 1 of The Daily News <http://www.dailynews.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4140466> on November 22, 2007

Durban's usually bustling street child colonies have all but disappeared from the city after what is believed to be a major police crackdown ahead of this week's Fifa preliminary draw.

City officials remain at odds over the fate of dozens of children, who are believed to have been rounded up by SAPS and Metro Police units before being taken to Westville Prison. Social workers say this happened after the children and some adults with small children were charged for loitering and given fines they cannot afford. Some may spend up to 90 days behind bars.

'The children were... handed over to social workers'  

City manager Dr Michael Sutcliffe has however strongly denied the allegations, saying he would "never condone" such police action.
But Metro Police spokesperson Superintendent Thozamile Tyala, confirmed that beachfront children were collected by Metro Police in a routine operation.

"We always remove the street children from the beachfront. The children were taken to a place of safety and handed over to social workers," he said. The Daily News visited several hotspots in Mahatma Gandhi Road (Point Road), Addington Beach, Blue Lagoon and Central Durban where street children are usually seen. There were no children in sight in any of these areas.

There were no children begging at traffic lights or along the beachfront. Adult vagrants at Addington Beach said the children had been rounded up over the weekend and collected by Metro police vans.

'So where have they gone to suddenly'  

A social worker, who asked not to be named out of fear of falling foul of city authorities and who works at a Durban shelter, said the children were picked up by Metro police and charged with loitering. She said they were taken to Westville Prison.  "Hopefully this is the last time it happens. They can't keep doing this to these children. We should find a permanent solution," she said.

Sipho Mabaso, who works with street children at the Sakhisizwe Reception Centre near Margaret Mncadi Avenue (Victoria Embankment), said that on average there were 2000 children living on Durban's streets. However, since Monday, Durban's street children have disappeared from many of their popular city haunts.  "On average, we see about 5 or 10 children at the reception centre. I haven't seen any of these kids since Monday," he said.

Mabaso said it was "very suspicious" that the children are nowhere to be seen at a time when there were international delegates and media in the city."Everybody knows street children are a problem in Durban. So where have they gone to suddenly?" he said.

Sutcliffe has meanwhile called on people with details of forced removals to bring forward evidence. "Dealing with street children is a social welfare issue, and the Metro Police is not involved. We as the city will never be associated with that.  "It has been an issue discussed at the Joint Operations Centre, and police have been instructed to certainly take away their glue if they are seen with it. "Obviously there is a heightened police presence now, so the street children tend to not hang out as much," Sutcliffe said.

Burundi street feet keep growing ...November 2007

Street Action always keeps its promises! Eighteen months ago Nick Turner, one of Street Action founders, ran the London Marathon to raise money for New Generation, one of Street Action’s partners in Burundi.  Specifically, he was running to raise money to buy trainers for twenty-five boys living in New Generation hostels in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi. Boys who had only ever played football in flip-flops or bare foot.

Over £1,000 was raised and some of the money was used to buy trainers for a group of boys living at Chez Albert, a house run in Bujumbura by Albert Sindayigaya and his wife  Eliane, to accommodate, feed and educate twenty-five of the former street boys. (The Street Child problem is mainly restricted to boys in Burundi due to the nature of the recent civil conflict – but that is another story).

Aside from running the marathon, our first problem was logistical - we needed to get the trainers from London to Burundi. Our second was anthropological - knowing how big twenty-five pairs of teenage feet would be by the time they eventually arrived!!

At one point, the shoes were even offered safe diplomatic passage via the Vatican but last week they were taken out in the suitcases of a team travelling to Burundi. And they all appear to fit!

In Burundi, the New Generation project continues to grow with many of the former street boys who have been helped by the charity moving up country and out of the capital Bujumbura. Life is very different for them there and some do find themselves back on the streets of the capital from time to time, but generally the project is seeing many of the boys going to school for the first time, and some of the older ones getting jobs.

This is a time of great change for Burundi as the country appears to be stabilising after years of ethnic conflict. The mood in the country is one of great, if cautious, optimism. As a consequence, New Generation is finding the issues and challenges they face are changing too, but the need for continued support for both current and former street children is still as big as ever.   

Street Action is planning to visit New Generation next year.  We will keep you posted about the developments of this trip and when this will be taking place. 

Health support on wheels for Durban's street children...October 2007

The Umthombo team in Durban reported this month on their new mobile health clinic for street children.  This has been funded by the Lisa Callen Foundation who are based in Ireland.

Street children are vulnerable to a multiple of health problems which includes AIDS, drugs, the physical effects if violence and abuse and the many risks associated with living and surviving on the streets. Street children are being further marginalised by the continuing spread HIV/AIDS in South Africa. Their lifestyles and struggle to survive place them in the highest-risk categories for contracting the disease. The mobile clinic will enhance Umthombo’s street prevention strategies and enable the team to reach more children.  Umthombo’s web site stated ‘This is the first time that such a service has been offered to street children in Durban. The clinic will enable the team to begin to address the basic health rights and needs of street children but will also be a catalyst for getting children off the streets and back into community’.

Leading a revolution and building partnerships...September 2007

Earlier this month Street Action held an event at the School of Oriental of African Studies (SOAS) called ‘Street Children – the forgotten crisis of Africa’.  Despite the tube strike, the event was very successful and brought together supporters, activists and practitioners to discuss and debate issues around the current street children phenomenon in sub-Saharan Africa.

It was a pleasure to be joined by Tom Hewitt, representing our partner Umthombo from Durban, South Africa. With over fifteen years experience working across South Africa with street children, Tom gave a passionate and powerful account of the situation on the streets of Durban.   He spoke about the philosophy of ‘street children consciousness’ and Umthombo’s commitment to be led by former street children leading a revolution in bringing about hope and transformation to the lives of thousands of children living on Durban’s streets.

We were also joined by Kate Harrison from the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and Felix Holeman from Street Child Africa who gave thoughtful, informative and insightful presentations that contributed to the evenings discussion and debate. The evening was also focussed on making connections and building partnerships.  Street Action believes that that the issue of street children will continue to be marginalised within international development circles unless a movement is built that brings together grassroots activities, practitioners and local and international organisations committed to the millions of children struggling to survive on the streets.

It a privilege to work in partnership with projects like Umthombo and New Generation that are seeking to develop new and radical ways of tackling the forgotten crisis of Africa.

Street Children - the forgotten crisis of Africa... SOAS, 3 September 2007

Street Action is hosting an event at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) called 'Street Children - the forgotten crisis of Africa' on Monday 3 September 2007. This will be an evening of discussion and debate about the current street children phenomenon in sub-Saharan Africa. There will also be a focus on how NGO's such as Street Action are supporting grassroots organisations in developing new thinking towards responding to the issue.

We will be joined by Tom Hewitt and Bulelwa Ngantweni - Hewitt from Durban, South Africa. Tom has been working with street children in South Africa for over 17 years and has travelled to many parts of Africa and South America researching the issues that street children experience on the streets. As a front-line activist for street children rights he and his South African wife Bulelwa (a former street child herself) set up Umthombo in Durban, South Africa. As Street Action's partner in South Africa, Tom will be presenting some of Umthombo's current ideas and strategies and will discuss the concept of street child consciousness as an effective model to change society's perceptions of street children and to address their needs while living on the streets. We shall be joined by Kate Harrison, senior technical advisor for children at the International AIDS Alliance who will do a short presentation on the links between HIV/AIDS and street children. Also joining us will be Street Child Africa's director Amy Hatton will also be sharing some thoughts on current models of care and prevention with street children.

We hope that this evening will generate some lively discussion and debate and enable practitioners, activists and supporters to share experiences and discuss how current development practice and theory is influencing the work and support of street children in Africa.

The evening will include a wine reception. Should you be able to attend please RSVP by e-mailing joe@streetaction.org or call 07870 581517.

Operating small but thinking big...giving a fiver or more a month to South Africa... July 2007

This summer we have launched a mini appeal to raise the level of funding we are giving to our partner Umthombo in South Africa. Street Action operations are small but its thinking is big. We do not run an office in the UK, employ any staff and we are committed to ensuring that 90 per-cent of our funding goes straight to our partners in Africa. Part of our vision and challenge is that through our relationships with our supporters and donors we will begin to close the gap between the funding and the need on the ground. Too many projects become unsusustainable because of the lack of funding matching the growing need.

Many small grassroots street children projects in Africa also remain victims of notoriously fickle priorities in international development. Often, media attention determines where the big money goes and political and economic priorities mean that the poorest and most vulnerable groups loose out.

Becoming a 'Committed Giver' means that our vision for our partners becomes a reality. We would like to raise the level of funding we are currently giving to Umthombo by £200. This does not seem very much but it would make an emourmous difference to the work in Durban and enable the street team to employ another member of staff. Our challenge is to encourage supporters to become a 'committed giver' to Street Action and give at least £5 to our work. For more information on how you can give to our appeal and become a 'Committed Giver' please go to our Funding page.  Thank you for you support.

Umthombo come to London:Monday 3 September July 2007

Street Action will be hosting Tom and Bulelwa Hewitt from our partner Umthombo in Durban, South Africa.  We will be holding an evening of wine, discussion and debate on the current issues surrounding the street children crisis in South Africa and beyond.  Tom and Bulelwa will be sharing the latest stories from the streets.

If you would like to join us for this evening please contact Joe Walker at joe@streetaction.org   More details of time and venue will follow shortly.

More children being reched on the streets in Burundi - update from New Generation June 2007

Street Action’s partner New Generation have reported on the successful development of their outreach programmes on the streets of Bujumbura and those which have been recently set up in other urban and semi-rural areas around the capital. New Generation aims to reintegrate street children and displaced children through support programmes on the streets, tracing children’s backgrounds and providing care and family re-unification. Find out more....

Capturing the reality of life on the streets on film...update from Street Action partner Children Rise June 2007

Children Rise director Billy Rafety has recently returned to New York from a five month trip to Durban.  During this time he was completing the filming of Children Rise and working closely with the Umthombo team everyday on the streets.  This has given Billy a unique insight into the daily horrors of children's lives on the streets of Durban which he has been able to capture on the film. Find out more...

Street Action visits Umthombo, South Africa - update from Joe Walker. 28.04.07

Street Action co-director, Joe Walker travelled last month to South Africa. Below are some of his reflections of his week with Umthombo.

It has taken me a few weeks to reflect upon my last visit to Durban and to think about how my recent experiences will shape some of Street Action’s future commitments to our partners work in South Africa.

The legacy of apartheid continues to have a deep and enduring influence in South Africa.  Inequality has persisted and in many communities the country has witnessed the poor get poorer. With the impact of the AIDS epidemic ever reaching higher proportions, South Africa has one of the fastest growing populations of street children in the world.  Last month I found myself back in the country that has shaped much of my thinking about development and social justice over the past decade and where my deep commitment to the cause of street children was manifested.  

For ten years now I have experienced the situation of children living on the streets transform into both a social and developmental crisis for a country that is coming to terms with its past and seeking to transform itself politically, socially and economically.  There is no time in this brief update to expand on this at any length, but what you witness today in any major South African town or city is a growing number of boys and girls migrating to the streets to escape poverty, physical and sexual abuse and the exploding AIDS crisis persisting in the countries poorest communities. 

Durban on the east coast of South Africa is home to the fastest growing population of street children in the country.  Children as young as six are surviving on the streets where they are subjected to the chaotic and violent culture of street life .  Visiting Umthombo last month enabled me to spent time with the team and to be exposed to the some of the current issues on the streets.  What became very evident during my eights days with the Umthombo team was that the number of children currently living on the streets has dramatically risen.  The age of the children arriving to the streets is getting younger and there are more girls. 

One the Durban Street Team (Umthombo’s street team) members informed me that it isn’t that the numbers of girls living on the streets has necessarily gone up, it is the fact that they are now more visible.  Over the past year the police has closed many of the prostitution rings and brothels that young girls are quickly caught up into when they arrive on the streets.   This has meant that girls have been left to survive back on the streets in groups with the boys.  This of course does not eliminate the risk of prostitution, sexual abuse or violence, but instead intensifies it on a very visible scale.  Female street children face a multitude of problems because of their gender, and their gender may even be a reason for their lives on the street. With this in mind and recognising many other factors Umthombo are in the process of setting up some programmes to directly tackle the situation of female street children and the issues they face such as sexual abuse, pregnancy, AIDS and hunger.

Through reviewing our funding commitments for the future, Street Action has decided to focus specifically on the development of the girl’s programmes. We shall be working closely with the Umthombo team over the coming year to evaluate the most effective way of supporting this work and how to promote the issues to our supporters.  Watch out for further updates soon.

I left Durban with a sense of mixed emotions.  Umthombo is a beacon of hope for a community of street children that live from one crisis to another.  The complexity of their lives and the daily struggles they face not only convinced me of the importance of the work that Street Action is doing, but also that our commitment to and solidarity with some of the most oppressed and vulnerable people in society is central to our vision and our values. We shall stand side by side with our friends in Burundi and South Africa.

Street Action visit to Durban, South Africa in March - 01.02.07

Street Action co-director, Joe Walker, will be going out to South Africa in March to visit our partner Umthombo in Durban. Following a successful trip to South Africa last September, Street Action felt it was important to continue the development of our partnership with the work in Durban by spending more time with the Umthombo team and street children. Learning directly from the work our partners are engaged with on the ground enables Street Action to effectively promote and communicate the real challenges and struggles faced by the children living on the streets. It also enables us to effectively support Umthombo's frontline activists who are committed and dedicated to bring about real transformation to the lives of thousands of children caught up in a cycle of AIDS, poverty, violence and abuse on the streets of Durban and throughout South Africa.

Please check the news site for more updates later in the month.

Street Action is aware of the negative impact that air travel has upon our environment and the contribution it is making to global warming. We are committed to offsetting the carbon emissions created by flying through supporting carbon offsetting scheme providers such as the Carbon Neutral Company and Climate Care who invest in reforestation programmes and renewable and sustainable energy initiatives.

Wishing you a happy and peaceful New Year - January 2007

2007 promises to be an exciting and challenging year. The news site will be updated soon so please come back and visit us again.

Wishing you a HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR - 21 December 2006

Street Action would like to wish you a Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year and to thank everyone who has supported the work of our partners over the past year.

Supporting Street Action ensures that we continue to help fund and promote the development of our partners work in Burundi and South Africa in delivering sustainable and practical change to the lives of children and young people living on the streets. A key component of our partnership building is based around developing relationships with projects that are predominately led by former street children. Projects like New Generation in Burundi and Umthombo in South Africa are enabling those who have experienced life on the streets firsthand to take a leading role in seeking to change how society perceives and treats children living on the streets.

Street Action is inspired by the hope that children bring to the future, and by those local people and communities who are actively engaged with children on the streets to bring about change, renewal and empowerment. We are committed to the embracing of a new agenda of transformation that gives street children the life, dignity and childhood they deserve.

As we look towards a new year, 2007 promises to be both a challenging and exciting time for Street Action. We plan to launch our World Cup 2010 campaign in partnership with Umthombo early next year. Please continue to check our website for further details and updates. Thank you once again for helping us bring hope to street children in Burundi and South Africa.

We look forward to your continued support in 2007.

Street Action Christmas Appeal: 'Think of someone you don't now this Christmas' - 11 December 2006

Street Action launched its Christmas appeal to raise money for our partners in Burundi and South Africa. Think of someone you don't know this Christmas and support the work of our partners in Burundi and South Africa. Please help us bring some hope to a street child this Christmas.

For more information go to the 'Xmas Appeal' section on our web site for details of how you can support our work.

Street Children and WORLD AIDS DAY- 1 December 2006

Today is World AIDS Day. Fergal Keane in today's Independent (1 December, 2006) writes about the power of civil society and the spirit of hope in South Africa as the country continues in its struggle against AIDS. He writes "Apartheid bequeathed a terrible legacy of poverty, but it also created a tradition of resistance which has found a new voice in the fight against Aids". The struggle and hope is reflected in our partner's in Burundi and South Africa and their fight against AIDS amongst the street children. Street Action along with out partners believes that street children have become the forgotten generation of the AIDS crisis.

You can read Umthombo's World AIDS Day message on their website (www.umthombo.org)

Sub-Saharan Africa has just over 10% of the world's population, but is home to more than 60% of all people living with HIV-25.8 million. In 2005, an estimated 3.2 million people in the region became newly infected, while 2.4 million adults and children died of AIDS (UNAIDS). By 2010 an estimated 18 million children in sub-Saharan Africa alone will be orphaned by the disease. With these shocking statistics Street Action believes we have a moral imperative to act to ensure that the rising numbers of orphans do not end up dying on Africa's city streets. Our partners in Burundi and South Africa have seen the number of children living on the streets who are HIV infected rise dramatically. UNAIDS in a report last month reported that children were missing from the world's response to the disease. Street children have always been missing from a global response and unless there is action taken their crisis will deepen.

Street Action remembers all the street children living with HIV and the many who have died on the streets from the disease. The struggle continues.

Street Action visit to Burundi - 8 November 2006

Street Action co-Director, Nick Turner, is currently out in Burundi for the next two weeks. During his visit out there he will spend some time with our partner New Generation in Bujumbura. New Generation works predominately with street boys. Many of these boys are former child Soldiers and orphans as a result of the 12 year ethnic-based civil war. Nick will spend some time with the New Generation team to learn more about how the project works and to assess how Street Action's partnership can most benefit its development over the coming year.

Following Street Action's trip to South Africa in September, it is planned that our partner Umthombo in Durban will build links with New Generation in Bujumbura in order to share information, to learn from each other's communities and to develop a partnership of support. We shall have more information on this in the New Year.

Street Action visit Umthombo, Durban, South Africa- 23 September 2006

Street Action co-Director, Joe Walker, is flying out to South Africa to spend some time with our partners in Durban - Umthombo (www.umthombo.org). Joe has had a long-term relationship with the work with street children in Durban and he shall visiting old friends as well as meeting with the ever-expanding Umthombo team. He plans to spend time with the dedicated street activists who work for the Durban Street Team (DST) learning about the range of issues that continue to sustain the street children crisis in Durban. DST is a pioneering street-based initiative that identifies, builds relationships with and empowers the street children of Durban to be able to leave the streets.

Joe will also spend time with the Street-child Consciousness Team (SCT). SCT is a “think-tank” consisting of former street children concerned with developing informed and compassionate working strategies on the issue of street children in South Africa. Joe will be discussing with the SC team how Street Action can continue to develop a partnership with this project and how Umthombo can develop links with our partner in Burundi - New Generation. Umthombo’s funding needs will also be assessed and Street Action will be looking at how we continue to expand our funding to meet the needs of the Umthombo team and the growing crisis on the streets today.

Street Action founders to visit South African and Burundian partners in 2006

Street Action's two founders, Joe Walker and Nick Turner, are to visit Street Action's first two partner projects later this year. Joe will be visiting Umthombo in South Africa in late September and Nick will be taking time to visit New Generation on a trip to Burundi in early November. Both Joe and Nick are looking forward to chatting with the teams working on these two key projects and finding out how Street Action can continue to help fund and develop their work - as well as how we can continue to pass knowledge and information from project to project.

Nick Turner, one of Street Action's founders, ran this year's London Marathon on Sunday 23 April 2006 to raise money for Street Action

All money raised by Nick's run is going towards funding Street Action supported projects in Burundi and South Africa. In particular, money will go to buy footwear for a group of former Street Children in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi. Kindly, a major international sports brand has agreed to provide footwear at below cost price.