Mauritius Open Air Festival

The Mauritius Open Air Festival – the UK’s largest showcase for Mauritian culture, named us their chosen charity for 2018. We were there to enjoy the spectacle - live Mauritian music and dance, a huge funfair and tasty, authentic food.

Thousands experienced the exotic and vibrant culture from this beautiful and ethnically-diverse island off the south coast of Africa. We reveled in the sound of Mauritius with live Sega artists and bands such as Velex Mizika, Sky To Be, Jason Heerah, Lin, Otentik Groove Band and Alain Narainsamy. Headlining this year’s festival were Alain Ramanisum, Laura Beg and their band Ravana Roots – playing their worldwide hit ‘Li tourner’, featuring DJ Assad.

Mauritius is known for its amazing street food. the fesitval offered a taste of some of the best dishes from the island, such as dhal pouri, an Indian style flatbread stuffed with ground yellow split peas, and gajaks, deep fried snacks like potato fritters and samosas, at one of the festivals many eateries and bars, washed down with a cold glass of award-winning Mauritian lager. We even spotted Masterchef 2012 winner Shelina Permalloo cooking up a storm – her restaurant was sponsoring the festival.

When and where
15th July 2018 12-8pm
Trent Park, Enfield EN4 0PS
Tickets available at www.mauritiusfestival.com

Our work in Mauritius

SOS Children’s Villages has been caring for at-risk children in Mauritius for more than 25 years. Our village communities in Bambous and Beau Bassin provide more than one hundred children who have lost parental support with a secure home and care in a family setting.

Since gaining independence Mauritius has become a social and economic success story, offering its citizens universal access to healthcare and clean drinking water and eliminating malaria and polio - but there are still many children in need of our support.  

Poverty remains an issue, particularly in rural areas, and is a major cause of child abandonment. Homelessness among children is on the rise and child trafficking and child labour remain a concern. Children are working in agricultural activities, street-vending and domestic service, often in hazardous environments or with dangerous machinery, and young Mauritian girls are known to have been forced into prostitution both on the island and abroad.

Our family strengthening programmes in Mauritius work within the community to help struggling families become financially independent and remain together. Our work helps to reduce child abandonment and neglect and protect children from the dangers associated with poverty and losing parental care, such as child labour and abuse.