Street Action - Committed to street children through action and partnership

Grace Smith, a volunteer working with former street children at Umthombo Street Children, writes about her experiences at Umthombo’s Life Space programme and how young people are empowered to find a way out of street life. She also reflects on the the role of social workers and the challenge of reintegration.

Umthombo's Life Space is our halfway house for 16-24’s who have come through Umthombo’s Safe Space and who do not have a stable home environments to return to full-time. These young people, who for years have been in and out of street life, may never be able to move back to live in their family home and indeed may not even have a family home. Instead, the focus of our rehabilitative programmes with them is towards employment, economic security and independent living. Overcoming the traumas of their experiences is central to this.

As of mid-December five of our fourteen Lifespace clients have been employed across the city. There's the sous chef making mouths water with the recipes he masters each day: calamari risotto is a speciality in Hemmingway's bistro! One handyman extraordinaire earned his way from temporary shop-fit labourer to customer service assistant in the new China Mall, impressing his boss with his jack-of-all-trades work ethic enough to earn brand new pair of Levi's as his Christmas bonus! The tireless effort of two former street children over the past nine months has finally paid off and transformed their beach-front experience from begging hotspot, through high-intensity surfing addiction and sponsorship with Umthombo partners, to training ground and now, finally, anyone's dream office space: they've signed their first contracts with the Municipality as full-time beach-front life guards!

Bulelwa Ngantweni Hewitt, co-founder of Umthombo, launched Afro Salon at a key location between the city centre and the beach in October 2011. Staffed with a team of professional stylists and beauticians, her endeavor has provided unique apprenticeship opportunities for former street children to connect with real business enterprise. One young woman, supported throughout her pregnancy by Umthombo, now earns enough to support herself and her baby in a flat in town. Afro's surfboard rental scheme made headlines in local press since employing former street child/newly-qualified coach/continuing surf enthusiast and trickster, to guide tourists, volunteers and locals alike through Durban's waves. Having completed the accredited coaching course in December with Umthombo he was able this Christmas, with his earnings, to take groceries home to his family to celebrate on Christmas Day.

In LifeSpace, the social work initiative at Umthombo will centre on life skills group learning experiences for everyone not yet in employment. We're in the process of generating community volunteer opportunities and work experience in order that yesterday's street children might become advocates and ambassadors of the work of Umthombo, building stronger community relationships and preventative interventions for the children at risk from becoming street children tomorrow.

These new initiatives will be fused and integrated into the most successful of our established programmes. Umthombo continues to be the first port of call for many street children in Durban to step into care and out of street life. We will uphold the integrity of our high-intensity engagement in sports which offer the most immediate relief from substance misuse and psychological trauma when young people first drop in to our centre. The decision to access Umthombo services will always be made voluntarily by the young people for whom we work. Our increased prioritisation of structured social work services into our routine does not seek to confine or conform but rather to ameliorate the services we offer to ensure an even stronger, more balanced and well-rounded platform off which Umthombo alumni can step into life.

To read the full article click on the PDF below.

Street Action is currently supporting the salaries and training of two former street children at Umthombo Street Children. It costs just £440 a month to employ a former street child. If you can giving a monthly donation to Street Action we ensure that one hundred per-cent of your money will go towards supporting Umthombo’s former street children. Just £10 a month can go a long way towards giving a young person a new start in life.

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