This book is a compilation of the written experiences of, as well as interviews with, young women taking part in the Youth Leaders in Action (YLA) programme. The YLA South Africa-Canada projects are run through a partnership between Canada World Youth, a Canadian organisation running international volunteer exchanges for youth, and the Volunteer Centre, a South African organisation based in Claremont, Western Cape. The Volunteer Centre creates and manages volunteering opportunities for people in the Cape Town area and elsewhere.

In the South Africa-Canada YLA programme, groups of eighteen youth, aged 17-24 years, spend three months living with host families and volunteering in a community in South Africa before going to a community in Canada for a similar three-month experience there. Each South African volunteer is paired with a Canadian counterpart and the two live together for the duration of the six months.

This book was created by the amazing all-female YLA team that lived and volunteered in Khayelitsha, Western Cape, for the SA phase of their programme, between July 12 and September 24, 2011.