Street Action - Committed to street children through action and partnership

The new London Metropolitan (Met) police chief Sir Paul Stephenson, who visited South Africa last week to study security measures for next year's Football World Cup, took some time out of his schedule to visit Street Action’s partner Umthombo Street Children. The visit was organised through the British High Commission. Sir Paul was shown around the Umthombo’s new Safe Space centre and met with many of the street children taking part in programmes being run by the staff.

The new commissioner's visit co-insided with the youth delivery week in KwaMashu township in Durban.  The Met police are one of the partners involved in the British High Commission sponsored programme, along with British Airways and Charlton Athletic FC, and is focussed on community safety and forging closer community links with the South African Police Service (SAPS). Umthombo staff were involved in facilitating many of the workshops that took place during the week, and the project held a day’s football training for 40 street children run by Charlton Athletic FC.