Andile Zulu was given his first surfboard by none other than Pro Surfer Jordy Smith!! When he found himself living on the streets he came to Umthombo and started working on his surfing and his future.

“Street children” is a manageable urban phenomenon in Durban! Where there used to be about 400 children under the age of 18 on Durban’s city streets, there are now about 150. This is largely due to a new era of good strategies for alleviating their plight. Umthombo is at the heart of this. Although there will always be somewhat of a flow of children to the streets, as major socio-economic scenarios play a major part in this, we can hope to see a considerable further reduction in the number of children on Durban’s streets through Umthombo’s work. Umthombo is reducing the “backlog” of kids on the streets, and in so doing, undoing the culture of street-life among children whilst ensuring that there is a fantastic safety net for new arrivals so that they do not become part of this culture.