Garth Hewitt Reflects On The Street Child World Cup
Listen in to BBC radio's show to hear Garth Hewitt reflecting on the street child world cup
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b046nqp0
from 1h 33min approximately.
Game Changers
Follow these links for more information about the impact of The Street Child World Cup , and highlights.
Team Tanzania Captain for SCWC 2014, Deogratius Modestus has been selected to join the National Team of Tanzania U15 which will play Olympics Youth Tournament in Botswana from 19th of May until 01st of June 2014.
Congratulations to #TeamPakistan in helping pass a resolution demanding the rights of 1.5 million street children living in Pakistan!
Yesterday the National Assembly unanimously passed resolution for the development and implementation for social protection policy and a plan of action.
#TeamPakistan’s triumphs on and off the pitch and the joy they’ve brought back to the country were celebrated by the house.
The resolution was the outcome of #TeamPakistan’s #IAMSOMEBODYcampaign - the joint efforts of Azad Foundation, Muslim Hands and Street Child World Cup
Wow! Street Child World Cup is proud to be the first winner of the small NGO category at the Bond International Development Awards celebrating inspiring development!
Catch A Clip Of Innocent's Song
Check out this video from The Street Child World Cup with Innocent singing the song we produced with @AyuLestari http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03VGiCQO8WA&feature=youtu.be&a
at 50 seconds in.
In The News
BBC London News has put SCWC on all their breakfast bulletins and a 2 minute piece will run today on BBC 1 (London) at 1:15PM and maybe at 6:15PM as well.
Rooftop Session: VIP Access for supporters
I am uploading a new video of the song Somebody Beautiful, it is a Rooftop Session: VIP Access for supporters only. You will be able to download the video from the link and see it before it launches tomorrow. So you have the first look and you can download it.
The video is a live rooftop session from our flat in Dakar.
Thanks for all of your support
Rewards Update
I have ordered your stickers, they are coming very soon.
Tweet For The Street
Please use this hashtag and #TweetForTheStreet to campaign for the rights of street children. We asked street children from all around the world if the whole world was listening what would you like to say. We got some very moving responses from the children at The Street Child World Cup and today in Senegal at the project I work at I got the following responses. Pleases help share and retweet these.
The Street Child World Cup Playlist
STREET CHILD WORLD CUP PLAYLIST
Stream on spotify today! Songs suggested by volunteers and children.
Enjoy
Some Thoughts From The Street Child World Cup
After a good rest I wanted to share some highlights and thoughts from The Street Child World Cup.
Some of the best moments were when the kids said the most profound and moving statements.
One of the best games for me was Burundi and Pakistan in the semi final, it was such a good game and Burundi had the crowd going crazy with their celebrations and their amazing goals. Watch it here. Can you spot me jumping like mad with a sign? Another highlight can be seen in this video at 1.55 Zimbabwe and Indonesia Girls where the celebrated each others goals.
The week was full of singing and dancing like when teams were welcomed in the airport or in Vidigal Favela.
There are not many videos around but there are some where you can meet some of the children from The Street Child World Cup
Meet Crystal, this girl led us all in a song one night "Singing glory to the king if kings" with the most hilarious actions from knee's bent, turn around, to tongue out, and jump around. She is an inspiration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNVg3vYttUI
Meet Burundi these guys can really play football. I had a great time with them in conference, listening to them and spending time with them.
Some of the most moving moments were when we remembered Rodrigo Kelton and saw the mural painted at Lonier the site where most of the games took place.
It really was a special time and now it is all about taking the voices of the children to the world to campaign for change. One of the initiatives to campaign for the rights of street children ill take place on International Day of The Street Child on 12th Apr. Find out more here. Please sign the petition and read more. The campaign focuses on children telling their stories, here is a video about the campaign. Some of the projects in this video were linked to The Street Child World Cup such as El Salvador and Tanzania. Watch more.
Wide Open Arms: A Reflection
The iconic Christ The Redeemer with wide open arms was a very fitting image for The Street Child World Cup in its goals and aims to protect and campaign for the rights of street children.
I am reminded of Matthew 19 where we read about Jesus' interaction with children.
13 One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could lay his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.
14 But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” 15 And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.
His arms were wide open and he welcomed children and today the wide open arms of Christ are extended to all, to every person to every child no matter who they are.
Wilf Whitty - Unseen
You don’t notice them at first. A visitor’s eyes
adjusting to the sights of a bright new city on
another continent are easily distracted by
the bustle of the markets, the ranks of
customised minibuses, and construction sites
preparing for the arrival of the football World Cup.
It is only when you have spent a few days in
the city that you learn to see the signs: a pile
of clothes in a doorway; a young boy running
barefoot across scorched tarmac crossroads;
a small group of bodies huddled in the shade of a lonely tree at noon.
Once you have noticed them they are everywhere you look.
They are the children who live on the streets.
By day they lie low and stay out of sight. At
night they are busy staying alive.
Christ’s wide open arms remind us not only of His welcome and invitation, but also of His protection and care. As we the body of Christ serve Him in this world we seek to extend His wide arms to protect and care for street children all over the world.
The Street Child World Cup will be working in partnership with NGO’s in the countries represented at SCWC to campaign on particular issues in those countries. In doing so they seek to protect street children. Work has already begun on these campaigns:
Brazil Campaign – against police violence towards street children, and against street child round ups before the world cup
International Day of The Street Child – alongside hundreds of NGO's The SCWC are campaigning with the words of children answering the question what would they like to tell the world – this is an exciting campaign. 12th Apr. Pray for the voices of the children to be heard,
Christs wide open arms speak to of His cross, His suffering. In this way Christ is identified with those who suffer. This is also a reminder of the the cost and the sacrifice of serving the poor and the vulnerable. Serving street children can be painful and will have a cost. As Christ's wide open arms remind us of His sacrifice we are compelled to share love such as this.
Vidigal
Vidigal
The Late Show Highlights
The Late Show was packed with incredible performances from the children, where they shared music and dances from their cultures. My personal favourite was the Indonesian traditional music performance. They even gave The Late Show Team one of their instruments each. Its a sort of percussive pipe sounding thing. It sounds amazing. I also thoroughly enjoyed the Zimbabwe girls' dance.
Returning to Senegal
I am currently in a cafe in Lisbon as I wait for my connecting flight tonight at 9pm to Dakar. Im looking forward to getting back and to seeing Sarah. I have some more blogs tow rite from the past few days of The Street Child World Cup and more pictures to share with you all. It was an incredible experience for all of us who were there, the children are all travelling home to as champions fo the street, as those who have overcome the negative stereotypes others would put on them. They are so wonderful and so inspiring. Thank you for being part of this with me. More to follow
Street Child World Cup Legacies
Already some exciting stuff is happening post street child world cup.
Tanzania
They have received huge amounts of press coverage on the main newspapers and news channels and people are praising these kids, the champions of The Street Child World Cup. There organisation has grown and now has more promised funding for the future. There project could be leading the way as an example to other sports initiatives with street children. There story is being told.
Street Skills was first piloted with Team Tanzania in partnership with the Premier League and QPR. Two QPR coaches gave training to 20 street children and police officers in how to coach football and work with children connected to the street. Street Skills aims to engage marginalized children through football alongside the arts and education to give them the skills they need for a better future.
The BBC have covered some of the final of The Street Child World Cup on BBC World News.
This is why The Street Child World Cup matters, street children have dignity and worth, no child should ever have to live on the streets.
This link is to a video where street children form The Street Child World Cup remember 8 street kids who were killed in 1993.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhAwzQLe_qQ&feature=share&list=PLZROcfywgGgRq68J-zXqMJDom1UKH4Pm7 ,
Tanzania and Brazil Champions
Tanzania Boys and and Brazil Girls are the Street Child World Cup winners. But every team has its own champions, street children, champions who have overcome great difficulties and challenges, champions for children's rights, champions of much more than a game.
Some pictures on the way
But now it is time to party with all the teams, so I will post a little later.
A Wonderful Declaration
A Wonderful Declaration was read today by 4 street kids each from a different country. This declaration will go to the Brazilian government to sign to protect and respect street and working children. It demands its implementation before the world cup and for Brazil to be leaders and examples to the rest of the world about how they treat street children. It was a beautiful moment.
Beats
Today I was working with Innocent and Ayu on the song Innocent has written. We recorded all the vocal parts and we will mix it over the next few days and get that in an email to Innocent the Burundi player.
Its coming on really well and he nailed his vocal takes.
We also recorded the Brazilian girls team for a track for a documentary about Street Child World Cup
It was great!
Big Art
A Wall Mural
This mural is a picture of one of the Brazilian boys who was killed on his birthday.
A Message To The World
Yesterday it was the final session of the conference , it was excellent. The Burundi team were sharing lits of ideas and stories as we looked at obstacles street children face and solutions to overcome these obstacles.
I was very inspired by their conversations as they shared their stories, their challenges and their ideas about overcoming such challenges. These ideas and these words were recorded by them as they wrote their message to the world on a postcard. Some of their messages are so inspiring and so amazing. These postcards will be used to campaign for street children's rights from all over the world.
Their voices will accompany many other street children around the world who have also been asked what would they tell the world if the whole world was listening to them. This will all take place on International Day of The Street Child. It is going to be a massive campaign that will be localised by partner organisations and networks across the world.
More Than A Game
It was a very special session.
In the evening we had all sorts of fun in between matches including some local wildlife which a zoo brought to us and dances from India and Burundi.