Charity Background

Surfers Not Street Children was the first NGO that we know of to use surfing in its programs. This started in 1998 when it was called Durban Street Team. Surfers Not Street Children was and is a pioneering organisation that has been one of the front runners in the new movement in surfing that recognises the power of surfing and the surfing community to be part of positive humanitarian and environmental change. SNSC believes that the humanitarian and the environmental need to go hand in hand.

Durban has historically been a hub for street children. Children from all over South Africa arrive in Durban’s streets due to its sub-tropical climate. They arrive in an attempt to escape an array of social problems in their home areas. Street life can be brutal. Street/prison gangs rule the streets and children are subjected to an array of physical abuse as well as sexual abuse and exploitation. Begging and hunger are the norm. Kids are forced into petty crime and suffer at the hands of older street children/adults and gangsters. With out intervention, the future for street children is disease, prison and death. Although there are no credible statistics on the number of street children in South Africa, the work of Surfers Not Street Children (and its predecessor, Umthombo) has impacted greatly the number of children living on Durban’s streets by taking more than 1500 children off the streets. It has also reduced the flow of children to the streets greatly with its prevention work.

Surfers Not Street Children was founded in 1988 although at the time it was called Durban Street Team.  It was founded and is run by Tom Hewitt MBE, who has been working with street children for 28 years. In 2011 Tom, a British national, was an awarded an MBE for his services to street children in Africa by HRH Queen Elizabeth II. He assisted the South African government in developing its new guidelines for working with street children and is known for his successful campaign to end the forced removal (round-ups) of street children in Durban during city conferences, festivals and sports events. He campaigned for compassionate interventions that are focused on the rights of the child and in the best interest of the child. Tom started using surfing within street child strategies in 1998 he changed the name to Umthombo Street Children then in 2012 Tom’s team became Surfers Not Street Children.

Surfers Not Street Children (SNSC) head quarters is in Durban, South Africa. It also has a branch in Tofo, Mozambique and an administrative office in the UK. It is a fully registered charity in South Africa, Mozambique and the UK. It has a staff of seven full time workers which include, child and child and youth care workers, surfing coaches, lifeguards and administrator and social workers (social workers are pro bono currently but we plan to employ in 2018).