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

Masala mix

Yesterday, Umthombo hosted Durban’s Street Child World Cup launch.  There was dancing, kwaito music, flags, glitter, and newly decorated tshirts.  There were police superintendents, teachers, street children,artists, local government officials and dumbfounded NGO workers (me).  There was representation from the British High Commission, the Ethekwini municipality, KwaZulu Natal provincial government, Coaching for Hope, and Dewey and LeBouef – lawyers doing probono work for us (they’ve also just taken on the Caster Semanya case, news fans). Reporters came to report, sponsors (thank you, Durban University of Technology!) came to give food, footballers came to coach, and supporters came to cheer.

Mandi, co-founder and Operations Direction of Umthombo put it best with a classic South African phrase – a Masala mix. 

I don’t know how anyone else felt, but for me, there was something godly about it.  Joyful.  Eclectic.  Potential-filled. Celebratory.  Unifying.  Each person contributing what they could.

And the only barely disguised air of chaos?  Maybe that was close to godliness too.

A huge, eight-part, interactive, human rights-related, sculpture…

That transforms from a football into a tunnel and is pushed along traffic-free streets, taking up two lanes of traffic, changes size to fit into an art gallery and travels magically across the world for different countries to see. And allows time travel.

We’re here in Durban and Hilary, one of the artists who’s working on the project, is finding her sculpture idea taken up, shaped, and growing by the minute. There’s an air of slightly hysterical hilarity as we envisage how these ideas will be transformed into reality. All we know is that we’re going to need plenty of goodwill, a network of can-do individuals, and a vision that makes people excited. I think we’ve got them.

This artwork conundrum – dreams into reality – sums up our whole task. We’ve got visionaries. We’ve got people who are getting excited. Making it real is certainly challenging – but today, it feels do-able (and fun).

In today’s workshop, with Umthombo staff, we focussed in on the ways in which street children participate in the whole process – from planning and shaping the event, to acting as buddies, hosts, and tour guides when the guests arrive, to ensuring visitors to the art gallery are welcomed and shown around the exhibition for the months following the SCWC.

This is what Umthombo are experts in. Ensuring the voices of street children are heard and that their agenda is primary. I found it a privilege today to work with Umthombo staff and see them bring their experience so richly to bear.

There’s so much more to do. There’s so much that we still need help with. But today, the vision moved a step forward. It found a root in a few more people. And, today, at least for today, I think we just might do it.

Nicaragua* beat Brazil** to win the World*** Cup****

* strictly speaking, a team of British young people waving blue and white flags

** err, a team of British young people….

*** 8 teams represented

**** the Greenbelt pre-Street Child World Cup Street Child World Cup

So, at Greenbelt the other weekend, eight teams of young people found themselves cheering riotously for Ukraine, the Philippines, India – and the other five teams involved in the Street Child World Cup.  I have a feeling none of them had really expected to leave a Christian arts festival with a hoarse voice from cheering “Come on Vietnam!”

I came back smiling.  It’s that strange football magic again. These teams – however momentarily and fleetingly – were playing with and for the street children who will be representing their countries in Durban come March 2010. Scratch teams on a field in Cheltenham sharing something with the street children of Rio, Managua, Hanoi.

I also came back a tad worried.  An air of chaos - admittedly joyous – reigned over our Greenbelt games.  Big thank yous to the brilliant bunch of people who pitched in to make that joy happen – you know who you are.  You are great.

Here’s my worry:  I can’t help anticipating that that chaos is going to be multiplied many times over in Durban in March.  I’m off to Durban for another planning visit on Monday with the aim of trying to minimise the chaos.  (Ever tried to pin down a tent in a gale?)

I guess what I’m really hoping is that that football magic – or the team spirit of fantastic volunteers pitching in – or whatever else it was – that brought joy out of the chaos will also be present in Durban.

jenny

What do you get up to in the early hours?

Say, between 3am and 4am?

Your answer probably determines what you get up to throughout the day too.  Peaceful sleep = productive day.  Insomnia = coffee, grouchiness, blank stares.

Once, when I took part in a January “sleep”-out, I remember reflecting on how it must be for people without homes who can never count on a comfy 8 hours.  It affects everything – how you relate, think, pray, plan.  If sleeplessness is an everyday experience, how can you possibly engage in thinking about anything other than the immediate?

When Joe Ziegler steps onto the fourth plinth at Trafalgar Square this Tuesday morning at 3am, part of the One and Other project, it’s at a time when many will be sleeping.  But not street children. 

Joe will be pointing towards the Street Child World Cup.  If you’re awake next tuesday between 3am and 4am, give him a boost.  You can pledge to watch him or give him a heart here.  For non-insomniacs among you, you can watch him afterwards. 

Night night.

STOP PRESS

See Joe’s brilliant work here:  http://www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/Ziegler

And give him a thumbs up, or leave him a comment.

Ta!

soka, futebol, ibhola, футбол, fútbol, putbol, fatbal, môn túc cầu

Did you get that?

It’s football in eight of the nine languages that will be spoken at the Street Child World Cup.  Guess the ninth.  (answer below)

A reminder of the communications challenge which this project represents.

We’ve got several helps lined up for our time in Durban.

Football – an international language. 

The arts – communication beyond words.

And Lingoproz (www.lingoproz.co.za) is lending  a hand to supplement our pool of volunteer and student translators.  If you understood any of the words above, maybe you want to help out with this too.  If so, get in touch! 

and the missing language is….  English.  Catch you out?