In just two months, the program has grown to 30 kids, with 15 more on a waiting list, Becnel said. The youths, from 10 to 14 years old, will eventually be linked with at-risk youth in South Africa, where a serious gang problem is burgeoning, said Mandela, a social worker by training. Mandela, a member of South Africa's parliament and president of the African National Congress Women's League, said she was inspired by the Internet project and hoped to learn from it. South African youth are increasingly turning to gangster life, she said. The country's transition to democracy has been more expensive and more difficult than she imagined and residents, many of whom are unemployed, are growing restless.
Many young people look to gang leaders as role models.
Also visiting Williams was Joanna Flanders Thomas, who works with inmates at South Africa's Pollsmoor Prison, which houses 6,400 prisoners.