Street Action - Committed to street children through action and partnership

Umthombo is a South African NGO based in Durban that empowers street children towards alternatives to street life. Predominately made up of former street children, Umthombo are leading a revolution in the ways street children are perceived and treated in Durban, and are taking the city into a new era of compassionate strategies that reduce the number of children living on the streets.

Former Street Children

Former Durban street chidren have been trained as child and youth care workers, advocacy officers, administrators and senior leaders, and together with the support of a senior social worker and experienced street children activists, many lives have changed, and continue to change. In recent years, there have been up to 500 children living on the streets of Durban, predominantly in the city's Point district, but this has now reduced to nearer 200.

Umthombo and Steet Action: Advocacy

Umthombo, like Street Action, has seen Advocacy, changing the way people think and perceive street children, as one of the key ways in which progress can be made in this area, and has seen Umthombo work in partnership with the national Department of Social Development in the production and application of an inter-sectoral policy on street children. Umthombo uses Advocacy to engage society in a number of issues. In the past few years, they have seen huge success in their campaign to end Round Ups, the forced removal of children from the street, making it socially unacceptable. This has led to the replacement of enforcement tactics based on safety and security philosophies, with engagement tactics based on social development thinking, and was hugely important in the lead up to the 2010 World Cup in South Afria.

One of their current aims is to put an end to the reliance on Glue Sniffing in Durban (and beyond), the worldwide phenomenon amoung street children and youth that gives them an immediate escape from the life they are living and from the pains of their past.

How are Street Action involved in the work at Umthombo?

Our main support of Umthombo is with FORMER STREET CHILDREN.

Street Action has also worked with Umthombo Street Children to develop a 24/7 therapeutic drop-in centre called SAFESPACE. Safespace is a stepping stone for children between life on the streets and a different life, a place where the process of empowering a child to be able to leave the streets can safely happen. Safespace is at the heart of Umthombo's work, and is characterised by a 4 step approach;

• Engagement programmes such as surfing, football, art, drama, music and kayaking.
• Therapeutic social working programmes: individual and group counselling.
• An alternative to street life: this will ideally be family/community integration but can sometimes by a referral to a child and youth-care centre.
• Aftercare: this is the follow-up work with a child that is living an alternative lifestyle to street life.

For more information about the work of Umthombo Street Children you can visit their web site: www.umthombo.org