My name is Mulenga Mulenga Cliff. I am 37 years old. I was born in Luwingu District in the Northern Province of Zambia. I live and work in Garden as a volunteer Project and Programmes Officer for Youth for Sport, Restoration and Rehabilitation (YOFOSO), a community-based organization I founded 3 years ago. Garden is a very large compound with about 7,000 people. It is what you may call a shanty compound in the outstretches of Lusaka. You can find very good houses in Garden, and very bad ones as well. Most homes have no electricity or tap water. At best you can call it an unplanned settlement. At the time our Community was starting on www.nabuur.com, the children had no safe place to play, read or get general protection from the many vices such as excess beer drinking at very young ages, drug abuse, etc. Parents in this community are not economically empowered, as most of them are not in gainful employment. A lot of children leave their homes and end up living on the streets from as young as 8 years old. This is mostly due to lack of things for them to do resulting in boredom. Creating a safe place for children I believed and I still believe that the community has a greater role to play to help the children to have a childhood which will make them grow into better leaders of tomorrow if properly encouraged and motivated. Our plan for the community is to have a social centre which will provide the children with a one-stop centre housing a library, a safe playing space, a clinic and possibly a creative arts centre. We look to the Neighbours to help us design a suitable programme for the centre and also to link us to organizations which will both support and help us carry out these programmes. Three years ago, I convinced one of the people I knew to let me use his home for this project. YOFOSO now has negotiated for the purchase of this building, and the owner is one of our committee members. About 36 children come to the centre regularly, while another 40 come on and off. 17 of them are going to school. We have 4 adults helping out, mostly on a part-time basis. We get a lot of support from the local community in terms of allowing their children to participate in the programmes, but the community cannot afford to support us financially.  Deeply involved in helping children I get my energy from the thought that I can make a difference in what a child becomes tomorrow by investing my time with them, sharing their concerns and their happy moments. The smile on a child deeply involved in a child play activity puts a big smile on my face. To me, Nabuur is a platform where a group of concerned persons meet and interact online with people elsewhere facing challenges so that ideals and experiences which may help find solutions to the challenges can be shared. If Nabuur was not in my life, I would greatly miss the replication of successful stories and solutions to similar challenges which are affecting our world. As for the community, they benefit from the knowledge that other people want to help us overcome our challenges through shared experiences, shared ideas and linking to persons and organizations the local community may not have known existed. A day in the life I am deeply involved in running this project as a volunteer. I do nothing else, apart from facilitating different children-related activities and workshops. I am a qualified Accountant. I worked in a Bank in Zambia, then I moved to South Africa to work as a Financial and Marketing Officer for an Import and Export Co. When I resigned in 2000 I managed to buy a property which I now rent out" My day starts as early as 6:30, as I prepare food for the children going to school under our Literacy Development Programme. They start their lessons from 7:30 and end at 16:00 hours. Next I see to it that the centre is cleaned, and by the time it is 8:30 a.m. the place is already a hive of activities. I usually will have squeezed in a simple breakfast by then if it is available. Between 9:00 and 10:00 I see to it that our small fundraising venture, selling of mobile phone talk-time is set up. I am able to sneak out between 10:00 and 13:00 hours three times a week so that I can travel to an internet café to check my mail including www.nabuur.com. From 14:30 to 17:45, it is time for sport, at the moment soccer, table tennis and chess are the games that are played.18:00 to 19:30 is time for literacy development. During this time, the children learn how to read and write at the centre. 19:45 to 22:00 is the last segment for the day, when children and some parents come to watch T.V. Although reading is becoming more popular during this time, as we have now sourced and bought about 200 books for the Library. We have also taught 4 guys how to use computers, and they will teach others when we are able to find one or two computers. When all of them have left, it is time for me to evaluate the day's activity, including that of the business. Most of the time it is difficult to find time to eat lunch, hence we have a heavy supper prepared just after 20:00 hours which is shared with some of the children watching T.V. The internet plays a very important role in my life, as it is through it that I communicate with others. I stay in Lusaka, but I have to travel to the city centre to use the internet. I use a mini-bus, which usually takes about 30 minutes because there are many stations. It can take longer. Not so long ago, accessing the internet was quite expensive, but now it costs me not more than $20.00 a week.  Bringing out the best in young people My motto is to bring out the best out of every person, no matter their status in society. Neighbours should expect the best and only the very best hard work from me in my duties as the local representative of Garden. I will provide feedback from the community and updates on activities being undertaken. My dream for the project is to produce the best future leaders who will bring about development not only in our community but the country as a whole. Together we can go so much further in nurturing the potential in these disadvantaged children. I will provide all the information and feedback they may need for a smooth collaboration. If need be, I will put the Neighbours in touch with the local community. An unattended to problem in one part of the world will become a global issue in a not so distant future.