The mixed blessing of a rain storm

As I write there is a huge rain storm outside. There is sheet lightening that stretches across the bay and lights up the whole sky. I'm sheltering in the lobby of a hotel which is one of the only places in Durban with decent wireless that actually works, so I thought I should post a quick update. This storm tonight is a mixed blessing. Usually when the rains come, I worry about the street children and where they might be sheltering. At this time of heightened security in the city and the constant threat of police round-ups, the rains will probably mean that the children will be safe tonight and the Metro police won't be out on patrol.

Those of you following my tweets http://twitter.com/JoeStreetAction would have followed what was going on with the police round-ups yesterday. I wrote about an article on Durban's round-ups in the Mail and Guardian last week. The article described how some of the street children accused the police of using violence during the round-ups, which usually saw them corralled into vans and dumped far out of the city centre, often resulting in them walking back to Durban which could take several days. With one eye on the World Cup these round-ups are increasing and happening every weekend. Around 20 children were picked up yesterday and we spent time with a group last night who were frightened that the police were going to round them up at any moment. I was with Thando from Umthombo who commented on how this was no way for the children to live. Not only do they live with the daily poverty, abuse and violence of street life, but they now have to live in constant fear that they might get rounded up by police. The rain has stopped so I'm going to make a run for it. More on Safe Space tomorrow, the research and HIV testing and how Umthombo is gearing up for the World Cup.

About

Joe is co-founder and director of Street Action ( www.streetaction.org ). Street Action was established in 2007 in the UK to support and work in partnership with pioneering street children organisations in Africa. Joe has worked alongside street children activists since 1996 when he first traveled to South Africa. Since then he has worked with a number of pioneering street children projects and activists in South Africa as well as traveling to other Southern and Eastern African countries. Studying a degree in Politics and obtaining a Masters in Development Studies and African Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), he has worked in the field of international development and also local community development in the UK. In 2010 he was made a research associate at the The University of London's Centre of African Studies, based at SOAS. Joe is co-author of Including Street Children (2011), a research report looking at the situation of street children in Durban, South Africa. His work has taken him to a number of countries in Southern and Eastern Africa, as well as India. He's also spent time in the United States traveling to San Francisco as well as New York and Washington DC to expand Street Action's advocacy, policy and research work. Joe currently lives in London, United Kingdom.

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