Gala Dinner Unique Auction Prizes

The Street Child World Cup Gala Dinner is now less than ten days away.

The Amos Trust are excited to announce the list of fantastic and unique prizes that will be auctioned off at this fundraising event that will be held on the 18^th November at the Sofitel Hotel near Heathrow.

Auction Prizes include:

• A shirt signed by Brazilian football legend Pelé
• Shirts signed by: the Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur FC teams
• A shirt signed by former England striker Alan Shearer
• A personalised tour around the Cabinet War Rooms, exploring behind the scenes with the director for up to four people
• A week in a luxury holiday home in Tenerife
• A week in a holiday cottage in Perthshire
• A print by celebrated artist Meg Wroe, made after her visit to see the work of Umthombo with street children in Durban
• A free valuation by Sworders the fine art auctioneers
• A round of golf at the exclusive Wentworth Golf Course with VIP guests
• Formula One tickets (details to be confirmed)

A selection of raffle prizes will also be available on the night, including chances to win tickets to top West End shows, a case of champagne and £450 in gift vouchers.

If you are interested in bidding for these items we would love to see you at the Gala Dinner on the 18^th November and some limited places are still available.  The ticket deadline for this fantastic event is this Thursday, 12^th November, please click here for more details.  If you are unable to make this event but would like to make a bid for one of these items please contact Jenny Dawkins, jenny@amostrust.org.

All proceeds go towards the Street Child World Cup which is taking place in Durban, South Africa, March 2010.

Jenny Unwin

Be louder together! Stop violence against street children

Consortium for Street Children Campaign

 

It’s now less than one month until the world celebrates the 20^th anniversary of the UN convention on the Rights of the Child on the 20^th November.

The Consortium for Street Children (CSC) recently launched a new campaign REALISING RIGHTS: STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST STREET CHILDREN which includes an online petition. The Consortium for Street Children hope to get 100 signatures on this petition before the anniversary of the UN convention on the Rights of the Child on 20^th November.

Add your name to the petition here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Realising-Rights

With your support the CSC can send the petition to important high-level decision and policy maker such as the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Street Children, the newly appointed UN Special Representative on Violence Against Children, and the International Police Association.

Please tell your friends about this opportunity to help. This is an ideal chance to show the world that street children matter and have rights too.

 

CSC campaigning really makes a difference…

 

The Consortium for Street Children feature in several sections of a recent International Development Committee enquiry, which offers recommendations to the Department for International Development (DFID, the UK government’s overseas aid arm. The report makes several groundbreaking points.

The report highlights the important differences between street children and other children living in urban areas and urges that a distinction must be made between the two. This encourages DFID to ensure that it tailors specific “policies and programmes for street children within their approach to urban development” meaning that funding to aid street children will be kept distinct from other funding areas.

It also recommends that “DFID adopt indicators specific to street children within its new International Strategy with UNICEF”.

Add your signature today http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Realising-Rights and show your support for the important work of the CSC.

Jenny Unwin (SCWC intern)

Alastair Campbell and Jamie Redknapp

The names are flying in at Street Child World Cup towers!

Alastair Campbell, perhaps Burnley’s most well-known fan, will be attending the Street Child World Cup gala dinner  and interviewing Jamie Redknapp, a gentlemen of the game, with a reasonable claim to being part of football’s royal family.

If you haven’t got your ticket yet, hurry! 

Also joining us:  Tom Watt of BBC Radio 5 Live’s Fighting Talk, Eduardo, Geovanni, and a host of friendly fun people to enjoy a game of table football with.

I’m really looking forward to meeting them all then.  Come along too!

jenny

Thandie Newton and Gordon Brown

Not necessarily often mentioned together, it’s true.  But today, both have given their support to the Street Child World Cup.  A very exciting flurry of emails at SCWC central.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown says: “No child should have to live on the streets – I commend the Street Child World Cup for providing a platform for the rights of street children to be heard”.

 

Bafta-award-winning actress, Thandie Newton says:   “The Street Child World Cup hosted by Umthombo is a wonderful opportunity to hear the forgotten voices of Street Children – often marginalised, this is their time to be heard and to shine on the world stage. From the football field to governments across the world, this a chance to celebrate the talent that every child has”

Thank you Thandie and Gordon!

jenny

UK Team Confirmed

More and more pieces are slotting into the Street Child World Cup jigsaw, and from the start we wanted to have a team from the UK, so it is great to be able to confirm that we will be represented by a team of  from Manchester.

The kids that will represent the UK come from the M13 Youth Project.  Their vision is to care for young people growing up in communities that are amongst the most deprived in the country.  This will be a fantastic opportunity for the kids on the project to see first hand how children from other countries cope with life on the streets.   We are delighted to have them on board.

Tom

Send your MP a quick message now to support the SCWC

Remember, remember 25 November…

And write to your MP about it today!

On that date, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Street Children will be hosting a special session on the Street Child World Cup.  In true SCWC style, presentation will be interactive, arty and fun – I can’t promise there won’t be chocolate footballs involved.

We want to ensure that the Street Child World Cup sticks in the parliamentary mind – especially as we want to encourage more effective funding of street child work from the Department for International Development.  Ensuring that our government listens to the experts – street children – when it considers this funding is part of this ongoing campaigning work.  The SCWC is all about listening.

So – you can help!

Your MP will have received an invitation to the APPG – but they receive a lot of invitations, and it might take a reminder from you - their constituent – to ensure that it gets into their diary.

It’s very simple.

1) Put your postcode into http://www.writetothem.com/.  It will bring up your MP’s name.

2)  Write to them.

You could say something like:

Dear (MP)

I am a supporter of the first ever Street Child World Cup, which will be held in Durban in March 2010. 

This event will celebrate the potential of street children and ensure that their voices are heard. It will launch a call for street children’s rights to be upheld all over the world.  The Street Child World Cup wants to ensure that street children’s voices are also heard by the Department for International Development and that funding for street child projects is effectively distributed and monitored.

On 25 November, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Street Children will be hosting a special session presenting the Street Child World Cup to UK parliamentarians and representatives from the embassies of each of the participating countries.  The meeting will be held from 3.30pm at Room C, 1 Parliament Street.

As your constituent, I would like to commend this meeting to you.  It will provide a chance to explore how UK parliamentarians and their counterparts overseas can use their positions to ensure that the rights of street children, some of the most vulnerable of their citizens, are recognised and upheld.

This is an issue of real concern to me and I would be pleased and grateful if you could attend the APPG meeting to find out more.

There, it couldn’t be simpler, could it?

Thank you!

Jenny

FIFA World Cup Chief Speaks Out

We’re a bit late bringing you this breaking news, I’m afraid. But in the last month there has been significant progress in raising the profile of the problems for street children in South Africa.

Danny Jordaan is the chief executive of the 2010 World Cup and was asked on September 17th if FIFA would support the rounding up of street children, his response:

“No, we can’t be a society that misleads and creates a false impression. We are a country of diversity, rich and poor, employed and unemployed, and the world must know that we have massive challenges of poverty and housing and we must address these issues … to restore their dignity and human worth; to give them a sense that there is a place in the future for them. Let’s not trample them. It is an unfortunate situation, but it is a reality,”

The full story can be found here

Jordaan’s voice is one of many that are joining with the Street Child World Cup in supporting the cause of the street children. We only just discovered today that there has been another appearance on the BBC News website as they have been watching the Nicaraguan team train. The Nicaraguan team will be comprised of children who are looked after by our partners at Casa Alianza. There is a wonderful quote from Eneyda Lira of Casa Alianza which sums up what the competition is about:

“We think this street children’s World Cup is a great opportunity to show everyone that they are not just dirty, scruffy children who bother you at traffic lights or are seen sniffing glue under bridges,” she says.

“Playing football gives them a sense of their own worth – and shows that the game is not just for the great footballers of the world.”

Please if you do see any reference to Street Child World Cup in the media let us know, we only found the most recent BBC article after 3 weeks! We don’t want to miss any!

Tom

The Street Childs’ “Messiah”

We are always excited to hear about events people are putting on around the world to raise money and awareness for the Street Child World Cup. So naturally we were delighted to learn that St. Luke’s Church Holloway is putting on a performance of Handel’s “Messiah”.

“Messiah” is the world’s best loved choral work, and has a history of benefitting underprivileged children. Over 250 years ago it was performed at Thomas Coram’s Foundling Hospital to raise money for the unwanted and unloved children that Coram saw on London’s streets. The first performance raised £728, 3 shillings, and sixpence. Justin Butcher, the choirmaster at St. Luke’s, is hoping that this latest performance will be similarly successful.

They are currently in the process of recruiting for the choir, so if you are London based and are enthusiastic about singing and street children then do get in touch with us (info@streetchildworldcup.org) for more details and we will put you in contact with Justin. Rehearsals start on October 13th, so don’t leave it too late. There is no experience necessary, just a willingness to raise your voice and some money!

The performance is on Sunday December 6th at 7.30. It would be great to see this well supported.

If you are planning on doing something to raise money for Street Child World Cup then do let us know, we would love to hear about it so we can inspire others with your idea. If you wish to put on a fundraising event, but are unsure what to do, then please get in touch with us and look at the fundraising pack you can download from our website, it is full of ideas and resources. Any support is more than welcome and much appreciated!

Tom

We’re Deloitte-d!*

In 1845, an enterprising gentleman by the name of William Welch Deloitte set up business just round the corner from the Street Child World Cup offices in London.  I have a feeling it doesn’t work this way, but if his ghost still hovers in the EC2M postcode area, maybe he’s been popping into the SCWC offices, and enjoying what he sees.

A shaky introduction to the happy fact that we are delighted to announce Deloitte as the Street Child World Cup official sponsors.  Yay for them!  We’re so thankful for their generosity and commitment.

This co-incides with the launch of our newly snazzy website – see www.streetchildworldcup.org, colourful, happy, and more informative than our previous pages.  By some internet magic I don’t really understand, this blog now updates that website, and our twitter feed.  And probably our facebook page as well.  Do become a fan, a friend, and help us spread the word further than EC2M. 

jenny

* I’m sorry – again.  It’s a syndrome.

The Team Assembles

On Saturday the team of volunteers who will be heading from England to Durban in March met for the first time. For many it was a day where the project became much more real. The morning was spent listening to Tom Hewitt speak about the situation for street kids in Durban. He was incredibly hopeful, more so than he had ever been, about the prospects of these kids. 2010 is apparently already proving to be a Kairos moment for the work of Umthombo. With the British High Commision backing the organisation’s work and statements in both the BBC News and from FIFA expressing concern for the welfare of the street children, the Durban authorities are promising to partner with Umthombo in the short term for the Street Child World Cup and longer term to prevent the children being rounded up by the local police.

Hearing the story of Andile brought a personal aspect to the potential of this competition. He is the captain of South Africa’s representatives in the Street Child World Cup, and also a child who has experienced all the violence and despair of street life, proving that one’s identity is often found in the opinions of others: a kid who is often seen as a nuisance has an opportunity to be a hero and role model, it’s a beautiful role reversal.

In the afternoon we gathered together to get to know one another and to discover more of what will happen in the lead up to Durban in March 2010. The team is a varied one, bringing vastly different experiences and passions to the event. Amongst the group are gap year students, people who are retired, a surgeon and a minister; people who have visited less than 10 countries (and that is including the likes of Wales and Scotland!) and one who is well on his way to visiting all of them.

It feels like the ball is really rolling now as the volunteers already begin to form a community committed to the cause and to supporting one another in fundraising and preparing. Bring on the next meeting in January!

Tom