WHAT BEGINS IN THE OCEAN EXTENDS FAR BEYOND IT. 

Surfers Not Street Children has been credited with helping to change the racial demographics of surfing in Durban and KwaZulu-Natal, with an impact that has been felt across South Africa and has inspired people around the world.

But our purpose has never simply been to create surfers or provide access to the ocean for young people who might otherwise have been excluded from it.

Surfing provides a place to belong. It creates identity, purpose, confidence and a way to build trust. Around it, we provide the mentorship, care and long-term support that enable young people to overcome adversity, discover what they are capable of and build lives beyond the circumstances into which they were born.

Surfing is the vehicle. Life transformation is the destination.

Originally founded by Tom Hewitt MBE and Bulelwa Hewitt in 1998 as the Durban Street Team, our early work focused on rescuing and supporting homeless children living on the streets of Durban. As our experience and understanding grew, so did our approach, and the organisation evolved into Surfers Not Street Children.

Today, a central focus of our work is prevention: creating the support structures, relationships and opportunities that can divert vulnerable children and young people from ever becoming street-connected in the first place, while continuing to support those already experiencing street life.


Durban remains our flagship programme and international headquarters. Since 2018, we have also operated in Tofo, Mozambique, through the Tofo Surf Club. Surfers Not Street Children UK serves as our international advocacy and support hub, championing the rights and needs of street-connected children and helping sustain and amplify our work internationally.

Our work has received international recognition over the years. In 2023, founder Tom Hewitt MBE received the Nelson Mandela Changemaker Award, recognising his and the organisation’s longstanding work with street-connected children. This was awarded by The Mandela Family, The Nelson Mandela Foundation and PTTOW! network. In 2011, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for his work with homeless children in Africa.

Nearly three decades after our journey began on the streets and beaches of Durban, the principle at the heart of our work remains unchanged: use surfing to build relationships, and use those relationships to transform lives.