The Street Child World Cup - News - LIVING SPORT

The Street Child World Cup

Millions of children around the world survive by living on the streets and experience violence and abuse with their rights routinely violated. The Street Child World Cup will showcase these children’s potential and create a platform for street children’s voices to be heard. This will give them the opportunity to communicate their stories to the world and, in doing so, claim their legal rights.

For many street children, football is the only good thing in their lives. It’s a break from hunger, abuse and fear. In March 2010, teams of street children from around the world will be competing in Durban, South Africa in the first Street Child World Cup. It’s more than a football tournament - it will celebrate street children’s potential, allow their stories to be heard and launch a global campaign to win rights for street children. They will receive high quality training in football coaching, as well as advocacy and child rights, to support them to build futures as peer mentors in their own countries.

The Street Child World Cup was conceived by four families from Cambridge and London when they visited Umthombo – a street child project in South Africa. The families were amazed that the kids had powerful stories to tell but no way of telling them, and their only ‘play’ was beach football.  The families wanted to help and decided to do two things.  Firstly, to recruit an artist in residence at Umthombo to enable the kids to tell their stories and secondly, a world cup for street kids.

Passionate about creativity, diversity and inclusion, Momentum Arts is a catalyst for social change and engage, inspire and connect people and communities in the East of England through creative arts projects.  Momentum Arts are sending four artists from Cambridge to the Street Child World Cup to enable children to tell their stories, through art, to the world who will assemble at the FIFA World Cup in 2010.

For information visit www.streetchildworldcup.org

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