Steve Cram's Celebrity Golf Day in aid of COCO
Do you fancy yourself as a keen golfer? Join Steve Cram, COCO and a host of celebrities for our golf day on the 15th June at the magnificent De Vere Slaley Hall in Northumberland. For more details and to enter a team please click here.
June Watoto: Voice From the Streets
Sunday 6th June 2010
As the World Cup approaches, South Africa and footbal are barely out of the news. COCO's Operation's Manager Lucy has recently visited South Africa and whilst in Durban she visited an organisation working with street children in the impoverished and dangerous city centre.
The issue of street children is a controversial one across Africa and the children who find themselves on the streets usually have a very good reason for being there. These children are seen by most as a nuisance and a threat and they are the first to be blamed for crime in the area. Very few people have actually taken the time to try to understand why these children are living on the streets.
Fortunately, Umthombo is an organisation that has been established to provide a safe place for the many street kids of Durban's city centre and it is an amazing place! Led predominantly by former street children, Umthombo aims to change the way that society perceives and treats street children. Umthombo uses activities such as football and surfing to get the kids off the streets and out doing activities that improve their health and wellbeing, demonstrating that sport is a powerful motivator and tool to improve the lives of these children.
Surf's Up!
Tom runs the Umthombo project and he is really enthusiastic and clearly very passionate about what he does. After 20 years, his vision of providing a safe place for street kids has finally become a reality. Tom has a really good understanding of what does and doesn't work with street kids and the kids can come and go as they please, giving them the freedom to make the choice of whether they do or don't access the support the centre provides.
Umthombo is currently training two former street children and COCO hopes to fund their salaries over the next year so that more kids can find their way off the streets and into surfing and a better way of life.
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