kidsPhoto: Natalie Rose

Street Action News

  • Finding a future in Burundi

    At the end of last month Street Action hosted Dieudonné Nahimana, our partner from New Generation, Burundi, in London. Speaking at an event at SOAS, Dieudonné spoke movingly of the challenges facing New Generation, his hopes and vision for the future, the development of their partnership with Street Action and our 2010 Summer Appeal.

    "Sometimes donors give, but they then face big problems and they stop. It is very hard to tell a child that you have to go back on the streets. But if we had our own houses, and a village, it will be sustainable for us and we can grow food, have a farm, animals. The children can also be involved to help themselves and not to wait every month for donations for food, rent and other needs." Dieudonné Nahimana, SOAS June 2010

    To donate to our Summer Appeal Click here.

  • South Africa’s street children given a more human face

    This week South Africa hosts the FIFA World Cup. It will be a defining moment, for the country and the whole African continent. Excitement is mounting in Durban as one of host cities and our partner, Umthombo Street Children, hope that it will also be a defining moment for the city’s street children and a chance for them to be included...

    In the months leading up to the Word Cup, South Africa’s street children have not had such a positive experience with the authorities anxious for their faces not to be seen. We reported last month that Umthombo’s sustained work of demonstrating the alternatives to forced removals had seen the round-ups in Durban stopped and a new ear of positive engagement with Durban’s street children was welcomed. However, this was marred last week by news that another round-up by Metro Police had taken place and had been captured by a TV crew.

  • Beginning to win the battle over round-ups…

    Over the past few months the issue about police round-ups and the draconian use of 'forced removals' as way of 'cleaning the streets' in the run-up to the World Cup, captured the attention of the press in South Africa and beyond.

    Umthombo Street Children’s long-term campaign against police methods and through their sustained work of demonstrating the alternatives to forced removals has seen the round-ups in Durban cease for now. Tom Hewitt, CEO and co-founder of Umthombo Street Children say’s, “We are thrilled that round-ups of street children in Durban appear to have stopped and welcome the new era of positive engagement with street children in Durban.”

  • Running to raise £1000 for Burundi

    On Sunday 23 May co-director Nick Turner will be running the Edinburgh Marathon which was rated as the fastest marathon in the UK by Runners World magazine! He will be aiming to raise £1000 for our partner New Generation in Burundi.

    Dieudonné Nahimana, a former street child who founded New Generation in Burundi, is visiting the UK in May and we will be discussing how the money raised can best be used to help the children.

    If this cause appeals to you then you can make a donation through our Justgiving page http://www.justgiving.com/SA-edinburgh-marathon

  • Election 2010: Putting Street Children on the agenda

    The General Election is upon us. There is now cross-party consensus that global poverty is an important electoral issue and with the Millennium Development Goals set to be reached by 2015, the main political parties have committed to ensuring the targets are met. What does this mean for putting Street Children back on the agenda?

    The third Sunday of the campaign (18 April) is World Poverty Day enabling the political parties to set out their priorities for international development.

  • The end of the 2010 Deloitte Street Child World Cup.

    Its the end of Durban 2010. The event brought Street Children together from eight different countries where they have taken centre stage, celebrating their potential and providing a platform for them to talk about the issues that matter most to them. But what now for the FIFA World Cup?

    Earlier last week, Ex-England and Tottenham footballer Gary Mabbut who was down in Durban for the Street Child World Cup spoke on BBC Five Live about how football is a great unifier. With eight teams from around the world and about ten different languages spoken, once you put a ball on the ground every child knows what to do and the barrier of language, culture and background are removed. This has been the experience of everyone who has taken part in the event.

  • Giving Street Children a Voice

    Its almost the end of the Deloitte Street Child World Cup. India are the inaugural SCWC champions! The weekend also saw the beginning of the SCWC Indaba (conference) giving a platform to the street children themselves and exploring the themes of Home, Safety and Health.

    As one of the founding members of the SCWC, and a long-term partner of hosts Umthombo Street Children, Nick Turner, co-director of Street Action has been in Durban all week supporting the event, blogging and tweeting as well as posting a daily three minute film of the highlights from the days events.

  • Police round-ups continue during the Street Child World Cup

    On Wednesday morning Durban's Metro police continued to round-up street children. Despite the positive impact of the Street Child World Cup taking place, the seriousness of the issue facing Durban's street children is brought home. Watch this short film opposite. Read the latest on the SCWC site: www.streetchildworldcup.org

    A report last month in South Africa's Sunday Times highlights how Durban's Metro Police are forcibly removing them from the centre of the city and dumping them on the outskirts, busy freeways or at unregistered shelters with no supervision or social workers support.

  • Street Children have a right to be included in research

    Street Action’s Joe Walker was joined by Dr Nigel Rollins from the World Health Organisation (WHO) to present the research project “If a child cries (dies) in the street, does anybody hear?” to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Street Children at the House of Commons.

    Speaking to an invited audience of MPs, Peers, practitioners and NGOs, representatives from UNICEF UK and DFID joined the panel to discuss the latest findings and policy recommendations from the research. The research was funded by DFID (Southern Africa).

  • Welcome to Durban 2010: The Deloitte Street Child World Cup

    "Once you see them as children, and you see them doing art, you see them as humans again"(John Wroe, SCWC arts team). Day Five is a rest day from the football at the Street Child World Cup, but today's film explores how the arts is helping to change the way people perceive street children.

    As one of the founding members of the SCWC, and a long-term partner of hosts Umthombo Street Children, Nick Turner, co-director of Street Action will be in Durban supporting the event, blogging and tweeting as well as posting a daily three minute film of the highlights from the days events.

Twitter

  • Sponsor a team of 10 cyclists riding from London to Brussels to raise money for Street Action. Here's how you do it: http://bit.ly/de8pDI
  • Welcome @cycleafrica to Twitter. London to Cape Town, 20000 kilometres to raise money for street children #StreetAction proud partners.
  • Joe Walker speaking in Vienna on 'what about when there is no family', presenting the research undertaken in Durban, SA http://bit.ly/9eaEia

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