Speaker Bio

Tom Hewitt MBE, is founder and CEO of Surfers Not Street Children. He has worked in the field with street children in Africa for over 28 years. In 1998 he founded the Durban Street Team which went on to be renamed Surfers Not Street Children in 2012. Tom was awarded and MBE by HRH Queen Elizabeth II in 2011 for his work with street children in Africa.

Tom is perhaps most well known for his successful advocacy campaign to end the forced removals of street children in Durban, South Africa. These round-ups used to take place to “clean” the streets ahead of international conferences and events. He called for compassionate responses to street children based on psychosocial care. Tom is also well known for his model of fusing surfing with mentorship to empower street children in Durban. He assisted the national Department of Social Development in South Africa with its development of new policies around working with street children there. Tom has visited and often assisted street children projects in many different parts fo the world.