INTERACTIVE STREET CHILD EXPERIENCE

(Pictured at the opening of the exhibition at the Durban Art Gallery were Chris Rose, Associate Director - Amos Trust, Durban's Mayor Obed Mlaba, Head of International and Government Relations, Eric Applegreen and Guy Brazier, Regional Leader - Deloitte KZN)

Street Children express themselves through art at the Durban Art Gallery

In commemoration of Human Rights Day, artwork created by the street children participating in the Deloitte Street Child World Championship opened to the public a few days ago in the Durban Art Gallery.

Regional Leader of Deloitte in KwaZulu-Natal, Guy Brazier says, “Deloitte is proud to be part of this initiative which will change the destiny of each of these children. Through their art, they have found a voice and we hope that during the past week of the Championship, the voices of street children were heard globally even louder and their rights elevated even further than before”

The Interactive Street Child Experience has given street children from Durban and eight other countries around the world the chance to speak for themselves. Through art they have illustrated to the world, their stories, their hopes, their fears, their aspirations and above all demanded their human rights as children. An estimated 100 million children around the world – aged six to 16 - survive by living on the street. They often experience violence and abuse, with their rights routinely violated, often with impunity and too often by state representatives such as the police.

The exhibition was a culmination of the unique and first ever Deloitte Street Child World Championship launched on March 15 in Durban. The week-long international championship saw street child organisations uniting in their love for football and profiling the plight of the street children with whom they interact.

Brazier says that an international partnership between Deloitte UK and Deloitte South Africa, UK-based human rights organization Amos Trust, UK Arts Charity, Momentum Arts, local street child organisation Umthombo as well as Durban Art Gallery and eight local Durban schools has resulted in this creative display of interactive art.

John Wroe, Executive Director of Momentum Arts in Cambridge, says, “The Deloitte Street Child World Championship was born after four families aged 8 to 50 from Cambridge and London visited Umthombo – a street child project in Durban run by former street children. Our Cambridge children met street children. The four families are creative types - writers, broadcasters and artists and they were all amazed that these children had such powerful stories to tell but no way of telling them, and that the only ‘play’ they had regular access to was beach football, which they loved. The Deloitte Street Child World Championship has allowed street children from around the world to tell their stories, hopefully amplifying their voice and making it heard around the world.”

Drawing on their broad and eclectic pool of artists, Momentum Arts have provided the expertise needed to create a unique arts programme that will challenge world perceptions of street children. The artwork created and inspired by street children will be on display at Durban Art Gallery until the end of April.