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UEL graduate launches charity to help Britain’s homeless children

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Soleha Khawar

Former University of East London student and ‘Streethands’ founder, Soleha Khawar, said she was shocked and troubled to discover that there were 84,000 children who had at one time run away from home. “People are amazed when I tell them this figure,” she says, “They say they just haven’t seen them. There is a real invisibility problem, once people know about the issue they really want to do something to help.”

While studying International Politics at the University of East London, Soleha found that she resided in a borough with a high level of young homelessness and set about basing her charity in Newham.

Earlier this month, she launched Streethands with a public discussion forum about the plight of street children, staged at Sugarhouse Studios on Stratford High Street, a stone’s throw from the Olympic Park. The event attracted representatives from the NSPCC, the Muslim Youth Helpline, and Cambridge University among others.

A non-profit organization with the primary objective of preventing child homelessness caused by domestic violence, Soleha plans for Streethands to work with the families of vulnerable children - the main objective being the rehabilitation of runaway children back into their homes through the delivering of consistent one-to-one counselling, group counselling and interactive workshops.

Soleha said: “Something I really want to get across is that you don’t have to be someone special to do something like this, you just need to have empathy and drive and have the resolve to do something about these issues.”

Selena Bolingbroke, Executive Leader of UEL’s Centre of Excellence for Women’s Entrepreneurship, said: “Soleha is an inspiring graduate who has shown tremendous drive and determination to launch this charity, tackling this troubling and important issue at a grassroots level.”

“Women’s entrepreneurship isn’t solely about encouraging SME’s to drive profits. The organisation Soleha has set up is indicative of the vast range of benefits that women ‘going it alone’ can bring to society and the Centre will do everything it can to assist her in achieving her goals.”

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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