A positive story about street children in Durban

Street Art in Durban 2009

When my family and I visited Durban and the Umthombo project for Street Children, Durban was very much at crisis point.  

In 2009, the city was getting ready for the Football World Cup and for the local metropolitan council, street children were getting in the way.  Crime was rife, tourists would get robbed and the council was  extremely worried about how this would put off would be visitors in 2010.  Street children were very much in the spotlight of blame for the crime.  So much so that there were numerous blue metropolitan police vans driving around the city , picking up street children and driving them out of town to be told not to come back, often with a beating.

The mobile health clinic that supported street children during the day from Umthombo.

The then director of Umthombo, would regularly meet with the council to express his concerns as to how street children were being treated and often there would be a stand off between the two parties.

Ironically the turning point for the city and street children, in particular, was the World Cup 2010.

Amos Trust founded an initiative called the Street Child World Cup.  To be held in the March of 2010, the event invited teams of street children from all over the world to come to Durban and represent their country at the first Street Child World Cup.

This was an opportunity to raise the profile of the plight of the children living on the streets and with the motto "I am somebody', the street children had an opportunity to move from being a despised problem on the streets to being representatives for their country.

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This competition forced politicians in different countries to really consider what was happening to these children and for organisations to work together to help them.

In more recent years I was pleased to find out that the numbers of children sleeping on the streets of Durban had been reduced massively, through Umthombo, the metropolitan council and Amos Trust working together.  Kids were reunited with their families and those that weren't had more resources available to help them turn their lives around.  

One exciting project is 'Surfers Not Street Children' set up by Tom Hewitt, former director of Umthombo where street children get taught to surf on the beautiful beaches of Durban and even compete, sometimes at international level.  This initiative has lead to the older street children to getting sponsorship deals, jobs and a great deal of respect.

By working together to support street children in Durban, great things have happened and this has been an inspiration to other projects all over the world, even changing policy in some countries such as in Pakistan.

This is why I am jumping out of a plane in July, because Amos Trust is making a real difference to the lives of street children through supporting local projects such as Burundi's New Generation or India's Karunalaya.

By supporting me in my jump you will play a part in making a real difference to a child who is often ignored on the streets, often blamed for crime, beaten and abused.  These kids have potential and the deserve to realise that potential.  

You can help me by following and sharing my blog or simply clicking the icon below to sponsor my jump.  Your support means a lot to me.  Thanks.