Meet the Team

 This is Biza

Biza left his abusive family at the age of 7 to go and live on the streets in South Africa, joining tens of millions of children who live on the streets of cities around the wrold. Twenty years later, he’s gained qualifications, works as an outreach worker, and is coach to the South African Street Child World Cup team.He came to lunch at the Humanitarian Centre in Cambridge with John Wroe, Director of Momentum Arts, and one of the founders of the campaign. Biza gave a fascinating and highly personal account of his life on the street.

He told us that he left his home because of his abusive household. “I didn’t have a chance to learn to talk as a child. I didn’t get that phase of being a child. I remember as I was growing up I was called dumb, a walking zombie, because I couldn’t say anything. And then when I was about seven, I got tired of being picked on. So I made new friends – at that time I was still at school. Those friends introduced me to street life.”

Biza dispelled the idea that children live on the streets for fun; “They’re not there because they want to.” Life on the streets is tough. “I remember there was another time, a friend of mine passed away just in front of me. At that time I didn’t understand anything about gangs, but I saw them beating up a friend of mine, they beat him up like hell. This guy took a big stone and threw it in his head. And then I went to him – I thought maybe the stone just hit him on the head and he was just lying there, and then I tried to wake him up, and I was shocked that he was gone – I couldn’t believe it. I thought maybe he had just fainted, only to realise as the hours went by that he wouldn’t wake up at all.

“And that’s when I realised that it’s tough. I remember starting talking because he was the guy who was looking after me, and unless I made new friends… I said a bad word for the first time, and that to me it was good. I said that word – the f word – the whole day, because it was a breakthrough. And then other kids started talking to me, they became my community and my family. People who understood me, - they didn’t care about my past – in the street you just start a new life.

Biza’s now the coach for the South African team in the Street Child World Cup. “I used to be one of the best players in the team when I was still in the shelter” he told us, with a hint of pride. Biza has been doing his part in promoting it, travelling around the country to speak to schools, churches, celebrities, and politicians. He went to 11 Downing Street for the launch of the campaign, and ended up staying several days there. He chuckled when I asked him about it. “Yeah, from a rubbish dump to Downing Street – it was an awesome moment.”

He’s sure that the Street Child World Cup will really make a difference. “I think the Street Child World Cup will turn their minds, their thoughts, how they perceive street children,” he told us. With the media and public excitement that the campaign is generating, it would be hard to disagree.