Street Action - Committed to street children through action and partnership

New Generation Burundi was founded in 1998 and is one of only a small number of charities working with street children in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi.

Burundi is emerging from a 12 year, ethnicity driven, Civil War, and has left the population of approximately 6 million people, already one of the poorest in the world, increasingly vulnerable to its severly deteriorating social infrastructures, extreme drought and trying to come to terms with the effect of having lost over 250,000 people in conflict.

The foundations of New Generation

New Generation was founded by Dieudonné Nahimana. In his late teens, as a result of the civil war and the impact it had on his own family, Dieudonné found himself on the streets for a period and from that experience had the vision to set up New Generation.

"The reason we started New Generation was to see how young people, especially the street children, can work together and make our country better than it was [during the war]."
(Dieudonné Nahimana, founder of New Generation).

Working predominantly with boys, but also with an increasing amount of girls, New Generation's goals are big;

New Generation believes that children and young people are the future and hope for Burundi. Our vision is to see every child and young person given the opportunities and chances they need to live a normal life. Our vision is of a world where street children are given respect and dignity and to ensure that they find an alternative to street life.

How does Street Action work with New Generation Burundi?

Street Action are working closely with New Generation to build a Street Children Village in Bujumbura, providing homes, education and re-integration back into communities, a place of social protection and care cruelly missing from the lives of street children all arond the world.

Street Children are housed in a series of homes in the Bujumbura area. In addition, where possible, children are repatriated to their home communities, often up-country in rural Burundi, many miles away from the capital where they have journeyed.

What has happened so far?

• The land was donated by the Government in September 2010.
• As a result of Street Action supporters, the build for the first house was completed in December 2010.
• The house is approximately 12m long by 8m wide - divided into 3 parts: two sleeping areas split by a communal space. Each sleeping area is divided equally into two, creating a total of four bedrooms.
• Each dwelling of this size is expected to house 20 street children.
• The aim is that the village becomes partially self-sufficient through growing much of its own food.
• Street Action are now working closely with Dieudonné and Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, the architects on the project, to push plans forward. A visit in July 2011 saw two arcitects, Rachel Smith and Rachel Sayers, as well as Joe Walker, visit staff and children at New Generation.

The cost of supporting one street child for a month (rent, food, clothes, schooling fees and equipment) is £40, and your help towards funding the new village, in whatever form, is hugely appreciated. Street Action is committed to supporting the long term development of New Generation. How can you support our work with New Generation? Click here.