One Voice: Deloitte Street Child World Cup

Millions of vulnerable and marginalised children throughout the world currently live on the streets. Deloitte Street Child World Cup (DSCWC) aims to give these forgotten children a voice and to campaign for their rights. No child should be forced to live on the streets.

The Foundling Museum hosted One Voice: Deloitte Street Child World Cup, an exhibition of artwork created and inspired by street children. An interactive and engaging exhibition, it aimed to raise awareness of the plight of street children whilst bringing the spirit of DSCWC to the UK.

In Durban, South Africa street children from eight countries came together in March 2010 to find their voices through the global language of a game they love. Through partner organisation Momentum Arts, the children were provided with the opportunity to tell their stories in new and creative ways.

Led by the children themselves, the DSCWC began the process of forming a global Street Child Manifesto. Together, they called for street children’s rights to a full, healthy, dignified life, as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), to be upheld.

Street Child World Cup Official Print

Mxolisi Sithole, Umthombo’s artist in residence, was approached to make a lino cut of a photo of Philani, player for the Umthombo All Stars, on the goal posts. Both ex-England captain Gary Lineker and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, had shown their support and kindly signed eight of the prints to raise money for the Street Child World Cup at auction. The image of this player gazing across the football pitch represents excitement and anticipation at the prospect of the inaugural Street Child World Cup, the collective aspiration of the people involved and the ongoing hopes and dreams of the street children.

The Deloitte Street Child World Cup is an initiative of the Amos Trust, a human rights organisation working with South African partner Umthombo Street Children to change the ways that street children are perceived and treated in Durban, and throughout the World. The exhibition was curated by Beverley Carpenter and Hilary Cox of Momentum Arts. Momentum Arts work with diverse communities and artists to create imaginative arts projects. Momentum works with the arts as a catalyst for social change in the areas of diversity, inclusion and regeneration, and seeks to listen to those whose voices are not often heard.

"The Deloitte Street Child World Cup demonstrates the tremendous potential of every single child, and especially street children, who are so often treated as less than human. I am proud that the first ever Street Child World Cup will take place in South Africa – and I urge all governments to guarantee the rights of this most marginalised group of their citizens to lives in which their promise is fulfilled."
Archbishop Desmond Tutu