John C.
I'm from T.Dot. Grew up on Weston Rd. and moved to Keele and Sheppard around twelve. I love making rap songs with the rest of my crew Black Ink. We also makes clothes and are working on a catalogue due next year. I've seen a lot in my 23 years of living. I've changed schools too many times and lived all over the city. I know what it like to raise yourself and try to do right when wrong pays more. After a trip inside I realized I needed to slow down on the bullshit and put my life together, my first step was joining PNSM. There I realized some of my strengths and weaknesses and together with my new "boys" worked on ways to reach youth wth the truth.

I am a silent leader, I can't tell u how but I can show u... Walk with me...

Whats up!!!? This is your boy Sab.

Hope you liked our magazine. I had a crazy life cycle myself, before I joined PNSM. I was fresh off the boat three years ago from Africa, lived with relatives that unfortunately couldn't support me, so I turned to the darker side of life and was on the streets for weeks.

The cold nights of February taught me how street soldiers survive sleeping on staircases and park benches. Kicked out of school and had no job because of my immigration status. The first best thing happened when I ended up in a shelter. Where they helped me with my immigration status, going back to school and even getting a job! All that in one month's time!!!!

Life changed for the better after that. I learned to change most of my negatives to positives. There were a lot of days and nights which I had to fit the pieces to the puzzle... I had ma friends & clique that I made on the streets and in the shelter and had my school and work friends on the other side, so I learned lessons from both and picked up on the rights and wrongs. I joined the PNSM crew after the persistence of a lady that I highly respect named Julie. Julie is a youth worker who I made friends with at the shelter, she introduced me to the group. Since then I've enjoyed the ups and downs of my new "NOT SO MUCH" family. Your homeboy Sab.

Brent J.
I was born and raised in the Spice Island, Grenada. I grew up with my dad, grandmother and cousins. They in a sense are the ones who are responsible for the person I am today. They molded and shaped me. I grew up knowing that my family never really had much, and I had to do with what I had. Being able to accustom myself to being content and still being happy, I learned valuable life lessons.

I plan to finish my high school education and move on to bigger and better things, namely university. I have many dreams and aspirations for the future. It is my hope that I can achieve all that I set out for in life. I realize that it takes hard work and dedication, a price that I am personally willing to pay. I enjoy talking to people and laughing, thus creating a comforting environment for the people around me. I also enjoy playing cricket and soccer.

Date of birth: 08/30/82 Origin: Jamaica Hood: Keele, Jane, Sheppard and Dundas west Hobbies: Rapping, drawing and playing basketball.

Born in Jamaica and then came to Canada at the age of twelve. I grew up at Keele & Sheppard. I graduated from C.W. Jeffery's CI. Some of my hobbies are writing, drawing and playing ball. Things that IÕm interested in are West Coast Motor cycles, planes and $ 1,000 000,00 sports cars. My goal is to be a music video director or a fashion designer. (I sew my own clothes and make music videos at home.) I want to accomplish at least one of these goals in five years. I got my life map out, so it don't matter what barrier comes my way. I got a saying "Don't worry, everything is gonna be alright."

Tommas T.
I was born and raised in a small country called Eritrea, East Africa. In 1998, a war erupted between Eritrea and a neighboring country, Ethiopia. Consequently, my father decided that I should leave my homeland and go to another country where I could find better opportunities and a better lifestyle as opposed to ending up in the battlefields.

I came to Canada in 1999 at the age of 14 as a refugee. To some people, immigration is as simple as moving from one country to another country. However, that defines only part of the big picture. To those who have personally experienced immigration, adaptation is the bigger part of challenge. As an immigrant, I had to overcome several barriers such as learning how to speak English, being able to express my ideas & thoughts eloquently and learn the culture of the society.

I joined a club at my high school called Peer Tutoring, a program where students who have trouble with their homework can come and get help. In this club, I took the position of vice-president (I got the position because no one else was running for that position). I did this not knowing that being involved was about to become one of the greatest turning points in my life. My responsibilities as a vice-president included taking leadership roles at meetings when the president was absent, assigning tasks to members of the club, and making sure the program was running smoothly. Even though I wasn't the best vice-president at the beginning, I slowly started to improve and by the end of that same year, I was able to communicate articulately with my peers and teachers. Being involved in clubs at my school has helped me to quickly adapt to the Canadian lifestyle and has made me a strong leader in my community. Presently, I am involved in several community and youth organizations where I continue to grow and progress in life while helping those in need. Additionally, being involved has allowed me to receive numerous awards and get into University. I have one piece of advice for everyone, GET INVOLVED. Taking leadership roles may not be a piece of cake, but it will definitely become an asset in the future. Getting involved is the only time where you can kill two birds with one stone.

My name is Ratheepan, and I was born in Montreal, Quebec. I lived there for six months before moving to Scarborough. I've been living in Scarborough for practically my whole life. My parents came to Canada without any foundation to begin on. They started from scratch with 3 kids (including me); we went from my parent's friend's house, to apartments, to being on the street for a while, then back to apartments. I was young, so I didn't really understand what was happening until I was older. As I grew up, my family came very far from where they were to being successful enough to be able to own a house. Experiences like those helped me realize what I have and to be grateful for it. Certain people overlook a lot of things in life, but at first when you don't have it you'll realize it when you do. I go to West Hill C.I and I'm 17 years old. I don't like "high authority figures" who abuse their power. I realIy don't like crooked "high authority figures" in general. I think it's unfair that people cannot help what type of society their parents raised them in. Certain people don't get a chance in life and the only way they suffer is in their future. That's why IÕm a type of person who does not like people who consider little things as struggles. Deal with big things the same way you deal with the little ones. That way you will be able to deal with the small ones proper. That's how I plan to become successful in life. I don't plan anybody to stop me, especially "high authorities" who tell me differently. I played a lot of sports before. I mainly played basketball when I was younger, and now I play it sometimes. I'm interested in cars and their accessories. Someday I plan to own and work in my own car shop, or study in recording engineering to be a producer. Sometimes when I'm bored, I mess around with a beat program on my computer. I've also started constructing a foundation for my future, if I'm going to be successful in both my areas, I will work hard to build on the foundation.

Moussa K.
My name it Moussa Keita, from the capital of Guinea known as Conakry located on The West Coast of Africa. It is situated to the east of the Ivory Coast and Mali and to the west of the Atlantic. To our north is Senegal and Guinea Bissau, and to the south is Liberia and Sera Leon. We have about 7 million people. The country is divided into four provinces of different language and dialects, but French is the main language spoken in Guinea. My country is run by corrupted, militant leaders.
I come from a social family of 5. Our family is well known, for our tribe was in power for 35 years ruled by Soundjata Keita. My father is a French professor and a political activist. My father worked on the opposition side of the government against the dictator president.
My mom is a tailor in the famous Gueckedou market. I had previous experience in working in the community but things are different here in Canada. Its not the same community, but I stayed with my motto, which is never to give up. I started to get involved and participated in community centers as a receptionist and prepared workshops at different conferences. My first years were with a youth group known as The Anglican and Franchophone Community. I did several workshops on drug & alcohol abuse, pregnancy and prevention on STD and MST diseases. My second job was with FMU and Conec-tech, where I learnt computer development and new technology. Now I work with the Students Commission where I got the opportunity to meet other youth who had similar experiences. We work as youth facilitators, going to different youth shelters, recreational communities and schools to do workshops on different youth problems like stereotypes, misconceptions, violence, sex abuse etc nation wide.
The reason that inspired me to do these activities was because I wanted the youth voice and opinions to be heard and taken seriously in society. And to show that youth can make a positive difference in our comminutes. Another reason is because I want to show that the youth in Canadian society can benefit their community in different ways.

Ricardo S.
My name is Ricardo. I was born in Jamaica, Maypenn. So was the rest of my family. I came down to Canada when I was like 4 years old or 3. When I first went to school I was the biggest trouble-maker ever. If you don't believe me this will prove it. I got suspended in junior kindergarden for hitting a teacher with a baseball bat (plastic). As I grew older, the trouble making was still intact, I got into trouble everyday, I was basically failing every subject I was not doing well in school at all. Like in grade 7 & 8 those were like my bests years in elementary. That's when I was so popular. Some hated me, most liked me. It doesn't matter, as long as the girls still liked me, I ain't got nothing to say, I enjoy playing basketball, you know, but, I got bad knees so I cant really play it right now. The things I enjoy doing is chilling with my brejins and talking on the phone, sometimes if I'm in the mood I also play video games.

Cleveland S.
What's going on everyone? My name is Cleveland Stevens I'm 19 years old. I was born and raised in the T.O. (Toronto Ontario) but my background is half-Jamaican and half-Portuguese. I love playing football and baseball but my favorite sport is soccer because I used to play provincial soccer for the Oshawa Kicks, I also used to be the second best goalie in Ontario. My top five movies that I like are as followes: 1) Training Day 2) Saving Private Ryan 3) Jon Q 4) Remember the Titans 5) Deep Blue Sea. The reason why Training Day is my favorite movie is because it has a lot of action in it and I love action movies. You know, now that I have told you a bit about what type of movies I like and what type of sports I like to play, let me take some time to tell you a bit about my life. Well here I am and I'm still alive. Should I be alive? I donÕt think so but the reason why I'm not dead is because I learned how to focus on the positive things about life instead of focussing on all the negativity that goes on in the world today. You know I lived in a group home for three years of my life and that is the main reason why I learned how to focus on what the future has in store for me instead of dwelling on the past. There is a saying that I follow day by day and that is "Treat people the way you would like to be treated". If that is some advice I can give you then there it is. So that is all I can write to you right now, so I'm leaving now, but you will hear from me again.