Words of Hope – online Every Tuesday at 5pm
Every Tuesday at 5pm we come together for Words of Hope — 30 minutes of quiet, creative reflection. Please join us.
Umthombo Street Children is a pioneering South African organisation based in Durban, providing a fusion of sports and arts activities alongside psychosocial support, training and long-term aftercare; through these programmes they are able to accompany the children and young people as they begin to deal with the traumas they’ve experienced and start to find alternatives to a life on the streets.
Their longstanding advocacy work, which led to the creation of two major street child initiatives — Street Child World Cup and Surfers Not Street Children, has transformed the lives and treatment of many children on Durban’s streets.
Umthombo operates a transitional centre for children to find the safety, support and hope they need. Staff build relationships with children through activities provided at the centre, help them to begin to address their traumas and work towards a life away from the streets.
Outreach teams meet children and young people on the streets; using sports and other engaging activities they begin to build rapport and encourage them to access further support from Umthombo.
Aftercare workers support children and young people who have returned home, keeping in touch with them and their families. Summer camps also provide an opportunity to check in with children at the point (summer holidays) when they may be most likely to go back to the streets because of a lack of recreational activities in townships.
In communities, Umthombo runs preventative programmes working with schools, churches and other community groups to identify children who may be at risk of going to the streets and supporting them at an early stage. They also collaborate with other expert agencies to focus on the issue of substance abuse for young people in communities and on the streets.
Umthombo’s work with girls, including those who are mothers on the streets, has developed significantly in recent years, developing in partnership with the girls themselves. Older girls on the streets are now even referring new girls who come to the streets to Umthombo.
The post-16 programme is designed for older young people who haven’t been able to return to school, but who wish to develop skills and capabilities for independent living. Social workers help them to process their experiences and also work with them on employability and life skills.
One of the greatest challenges of working with street girls & young women is that their notion of fear has been so compromised and watered-down by their own life experiences, it leads them to make destructive life choices.
Rebuilding and reconnecting their emotions that have long been suppressed and shattered becomes the core of our work so that they may move towards making choices that provide hope for their future, no matter how little or big this hope may be or might look like.” Umthombo, Durban South Africa
Umthombo also endeavours to change the way society perceives children on the streets — educating communities about the realities they face, developing and implementing strategies to address these issues, and continuing to have a significant impact on local, regional and national decision-making in these areas.
Take a look through our range of resources, including blog posts, downloads and products, to find out more about our Street Justice work.
Thank you to those that attended Amos Day 2022 in London or watched the live stream. For those that missed it, here’s the day on catch-up when we were joined by Dieudonne Nahimana, founder of New Generation Burundi, Hamed from Hebron International Resources Network, and Ahmed Alnaouq from We Are Not Numbers in Gaza. Watch again now.
Thank you for those that attended Amos Day 2021 in London or watched the live stream. For those that missed it, here’s the entire day on catch up. Listen again as we update you on all areas of our work including news of our ‘On Location’ art project from Gaza, our plans for International Day of the Girl, our ‘Street Born’ project with Cheka Sana Tanzania as well as some Palestine Justice and Climate Justice news and a special Garth Hewitt concert.
All of the first season of Amos’ Dozen Tuesdays webinars are available to watch again. Featuring hour-long conversations with thought-leaders and Amos partners and friends including Domenica Pecoraro, Mpendulo Nyembe, Ellen Logan, Emily Reyes, We Are Not Numbers, Manal Ramadam, Marie Christina Kolo and Jeff Halper.
All of the Season 4 Amos@6 webinars are available to listen and watch again. Featuring hour-long conversations with thought-leaders and Amos partners and friends including spoken-word poet Zena Kazeme, climate activist Alexandra Wanjiku Kelbert and Paul Sunder Singh from Karunalaya in India.
All of the Season 3 Amos@6 webinars are available to listen and watch again. Featuring 45-minute conversations with thought-leaders and Amos partners and friends including Rasha Nahas, Asmaa Tayeh, Ola AlAsi, Amaka Okafor, Taysir Arbasi, Heather Masoud, Masuma Ahuja, Sam Richards, Sadock John, Luca Mee, Zoughbi Zoughbi, Clare Anastas, Alia Malek, Miranda Penell, Robert Cohen, George Zeiden, Diala Isid and Harry Baker.
All of the Season 2 Amos@6 webinars are available to listen and watch again. Featuring 45-minute conversations with thought-leaders and Amos partners and friends including Paul and Bakiyam Sunder Singh from India, Liz Mnengwa from Kenya, Dieudonné Nahimana from Burundi, Mpendulo Nyembe from South Africa, Dr Suhaila Tarazi from Gaza, Ruth Daniel from In Place of War, Wisam Salsaa from the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem and Palestinian writer and human rights advocate, Raja Shehadeh and more.
During the 2020 Lockdown, we thought it was more important than ever to continue to talk about the issues that all our partners face, particularly in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. This is a back catalogue of Amos@5 webinars from Season 1 featuring 30-minute conversations with thought-leaders and Amos partners and friends.
“The Ukrainian team of eight had not met before the tournament. They may not have been the best team in the world, but they were such huge favourites with everyone as they were so enthusiastic.” As the invasion of Ukraine begins, Amos Director Chris Rose remembers meeting eight of its young people at the inaugural Street Child World Cup.
Amos Trust
7 Bell Yard, London
United Kingdom
WC2A 2JR
Telephone:
+44 (0) 203 725 3493
Email:
[email protected]
Registered Charity No.
1164234
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