Iddy's Story (22), from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Iddy Wiraji Chuma is a positive role model for the youth living in Bagamoyo District -- a 2 hour drive Northwest of Dar Es Salaam. He volunteers with the Tanzanian Red Cross as a peer educator and a trainer of trainers in a program funded by PEPFAR/USAID and managed by the International Youth Foundation (IYF). The day we met him he was performing in a market area. The drama he performed is focused on an orphaned teenager rescued by a relative from the street but mistreated and discriminated against by the children of this new guardian. Eventually this young man is framed as a thief and is kicked out of the house. Iddy then opens up a discussion with the audience. Is this the way to treat an orphan? What has he done apart from losing his father to HIV?
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Dewa's Story (26), from Seenigama, Sri Lanka
Dewa Rajith Sudarshani was 23 when the devastating Tsunami of 2004 killed her mother and destroyed her family’s home in Seenigama, a fishing village on the south coast of Sri Lanka. “Everybody lost something,” Dewa recalls. “The biggest loss for me was my mother and niece. We lost our whole property, everything.” Today, the greatest challenges facing local residents are unemployment, lack of education, and poor livelihood. Thanks to the Nokia/IYF Tsunami initiative, Dewa is now learning news skills and plans to start her own small business.
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Mehmet's Story (23), from Istanbul, Turkey
With just one year left before graduating from his university in Istanbul, 23-year-old Mehmet Sirin Erbul had grown nervous about his job prospects. One of five children in his family, Mehmet excels in school, but faces a challenging job market in Turkey, especially for youth who lack experience. “There are simply too many candidates for the posts available,” explains the aspiring teacher. Yet unlike many of his peers, Mehmet gained hands on teaching experience through the Dreams Workshop, an arts-based program that trains youth volunteers to teach younger children.
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Jonathan's Story (18), from Bogotá, Colombia
Jonathan had just hours to pack and leave his home in Palo Cabildo, a mountainous, rural community in central Colombia, when violence broke out in this region long-plagued by paramilitary warfare. “The biggest problem in Colombia is violence which causes poverty,” he explains. “Because of poverty, youth must help their families and can’t study and get an education.” Not long ago, Jonathan heard an advertisement on TV for the Conéctate Colombia program, supported through a global youth development initiative of Nokia and IYF. Through the nine-month program, carried out by Fundación Empresarios por la Educación, young people receive life skills and employment training, and gain practical experience through internships at local businesses. Jonathan applied and was accepted.
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Kim's Story (18), from Mexico City, Mexico
At 18, Kim found herself without friends, drinking too much, and in trouble at her high school in Mexico City. Like thousands of young people across the city, she made a decision she would come to regret. “I had hit a girl and stole her bag, which left me two options: leave school or join a gang for protection.” She not only joined the gang, but became one of its leaders. Kim found she had more control over her life after participating in a life skills training program supported by the International Youth Foundation and a local organization called Cauce Ciudadano.
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Miguel's Story (18), from Mexico City, Mexico
Miguel, 21, a lively young man with a sharp sense of humor, has loved drawing as long as he can remember. When he got to secondary school, however, he turned to painting graffiti in his community. With little to do after school, he joined a youth gang, and at night the group would roam the neighborhood, and draw huge pictures on the sides of buildings, which was against the law. Miguel, too busy hanging out with his gang to pay attention to his studies, dropped out of school. Last year, he heard about a program called Ocupate (“Get busy!”) that works with gang members, run by the Cauce Ciudadano organization. As a result, Miguel participated in a life skills program funded by the GE Foundation.
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In Thailand, Moodka (20) builds boats and a better future for herself and her community
In the aftermath of the December 2004 tsunami, many of the homes and boats in the coastal fishing village of Natuey in southwestern Thailand were damaged or destroyed. While only one villager perished, the many families who relied on fishing for their livelihood were left to completely rebuild their lives. Eighteen-year-old Mookda Noorak left school so that she could contribute to her family’s income and enable her two younger brothers to finish their educations. While Moodka once dreamed of becoming a computer programmer, her hopes for the future dimmed until she learned of a boat-building course offered in nearby Taimuang. She applied and was accepted.
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In Czech Republic, Karolina (19) brightens the lives of hospital patients
Over the past two years, patients at Motol Hospital, the largest in the Czech Republic, have welcomed a variety of furry, four-legged visitors, accompanied by youthful chaperones. The visits help them feel less isolated and offer emotional benefits, according to Karolina Eckschlagerova, a 19-year-old college student from Prague, who came up with the idea for the canine therapy program.
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William's Story (21) from Lima, Peru
Twenty-one year-old William Laura was born in Ayacucho, a province in the Peruvian Andes, that gained a reputation as a hotbed of terrorist activity during the 1980s. When William was just a baby, his family moved to Barrios Altos, a slum community in Lima, to escape the violence around them. Yet here William, like many of his peers, faced other challenges, including widespread poverty, a pervasive drug culture, high youth unemployment, conflicts at home, and peer pressure at school and in the community. Then, William discovered De calle a calle (Street by Street), the local Make a Connection program in Peru.
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Esra's Story (23) from Istanbul, Turkey
At 23, Esra Çelikkanat, a third year student at Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey dreamed of being an art teacher; yet she was somewhat shy and reserved. “I was not one who could easily express my feelings,” she explains. “I felt restricted growing up.” To help develop her skills – and her self-confidence – Esra began volunteering through the Dreams Workshop, a national education project supported through a joint collaboration among the International Youth Foundation, Nokia, and the Education Volunteers Foundation of Turkey.
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In Albania, Adriatik (29) is one of 20 young entrepreneurs to receive loans to start small enterprises
In Albania, as in other parts of the world, young people make up nearly half of the unemployed population. In the absence of jobs, many talented youth, such as 29-year-old Adriatik Allamani, dream of starting their own business. Yet aspiring young entrepreneurs like Adriatik face numerous obstacles, including high interest rates of up to 30 percent offered to young people taking out loans, the price of registering a business, and the knowledge they will need to develop it and ensure its success. Read how Adrianik makes a living while giving back.

Rowena's Story (15), from Mindanao, the Philippines
“My parents didn’t go to school, and have to work in the rice fields all day,” explains Rowena, one of the top students at Talayan High School, and a leader among her peers. Yet while Rowena dreams of becoming a doctor, she has become very discouraged. Her science class had no science equipment, and she was unable to perform even the most basic experiments. A few weeks ago, thanks to a program supported by the Education and Livelihood Skills Alliance (ELSA), her prospects changed dramatically. Read more

Romina's Story (22), from Buenos Aires, Argentina
Romina Collman is well aware of how hard it is to get a job these days, given Argentina’s lingering economic crisis, an unemployment rate of almost 25%, and her own lack of opportunities growing up in an impoverished neighborhood. “In the real world, if you don’t have skills and education, you will be unemployed, like so many of my friends,” she says.
Having finished high school, but unable to find productive or full time work, Romina was deeply discouraged. When a friend told her about entra 21, she leapt at the chance, and enrolled in September 2003. Read more

Ruth's Story (21), from Cartagena, Colombia
Cartagena, Colombia -Ruth Dary Ortiz, 21, lives in the run-down neighborhood called "Nelson Mandela," where drinking water is scarce, and violence is commonplace. Most people who live there are "desplazados" -- families who have fled the fighting and instability of the countryside, caused by conflicts between Colombia's guerilla forces and the counter-insurgency paramilitary. Families, particularly young people, are often caught in the middle. One night, armed fighters broke into Ruth's home and killed her older brother. As tears run down her face, she recalls how her family fled the village, and moved to Cartagena. "We had no money and no jobs. We just stayed at home." Ruth started working as a maid, but lost her job. It was then that she heard about the Entra 21 program. Today, Ruth sits at her computer in the classroom at Fundacion Indufrial,
an NGO based in Cartagena, enrolled in a 6-month course in internet and
computer maintenance. Read more

Valentina’s Story (12), from Zaghreb, Croatia
"Roma children face so many problems in their every day lives, such as poverty, inadequate parental care, health risks, and inadequate educational opportunities," says Bajro Bajiric, founder of the Roma for Roma Association, in Zagreb, Croatia. Through a life skills initiative called "Healthy Communities," however, young people like Valentina, age 12, are building up their confidence, and gaining skills in decision making, problem solving, and how to be part of the solution. "I like to go to the workshops, play the games, and go on trips," she says. "We are also learning not to throw trash in the streets" - the result of the program’s focus on cleaning up the environment. Read more

Hazem's (17), from Ammam, Jordan
“My name is Hazem Abdullah. I’m 17 years old, and I am a student at Qutaiba Bin-Muslim high school. My daily routine was going to school, going back home, meeting my friends at any of the guys’ house, and playing games there. I like music a lot, and I play the guitar. One day, a group from Intel Computer Clubhouse in Jordan came to my school and told us about the club. The clubhouse isn’t only giving me the chance to become a talented guitarist but a self confidant leader in the band, breaking the barrier of shyness and fear.”
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