New Generation was founded by and is headed by a former street child and visionary, Dieudonne Nahimana. Dieudonne found himself living on the streets with other street children after the brutal murder of his father during the war. Dieudonne says that on the streets he noticed something. In his own words, “Street children were one of the first groups to throw away the notion of ethnic difference in Burundi.”

This inspired him to set up New Generation, a project that drew strength from and with street children to not only get kids off the streets but also to develop leaders for a new Burundi. New Generation is a pioneering nation-building programme mentoring leaders of integrity for the future Burundi, with street children central to the organisation.

As part of this broader vision, and because of a lack of priority given to the social protection and care of street children in Burundi, New Generation have responded by providing homes, education and re-integration back into the community. New Generation work with street children in Bujumbura (the capital of Burundi) and are also building a street child village in Muyinga (upcountry in Burundi) to provide a place of safety for younger children.

The work of New Generation is well-respected by the government of Burundi and they donated a piece of building land to the project in 2010.  Street Action raised funds to build the first house on the site in 2011 and we are now looking to raise the funds to complete the village. The plan is to build a 'New Generation Village' for street children on this land, with up to eight houses. Each house would be able to generate food (and other income) from agricultural projects set up and run by the street children in the village, and avoid the need to pay rent on an existing house.

Street Action is committed to supporting this project. The cost to build a house, each of which provides a home for twenty street children, is £25,000 including running costs for the first year. The cost for the entire village, included shared spaces and facilities, will be £250,000. We are excited because this is an innovative and sustainable way of helping children make the transition from the streets back into communities. We know this is an ambitious target to reach but we are excited by this opportunity to provide long-term sustainable places for the children.

Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page. If you want to talk about this in more detail then don't hesitate to email us at info@streetaction.org or call Nick Turner on 07767 370123.

Many thanks

 

New Generation (Burundi) & Street Action (UK and Internationally)