These young people leave behind troubled homes, where families struggle in a world shaped by poverty and its byproducts: unemployment, overcrowding, substance abuse, and inadequate facilities. They also flee to the streets to escape the gang, drug and taxi wars, and the political conflicts that plague their communities.

The boy pictured above is one of hundreds of young "strollers" in the city who are observed and attended to by STREETS. Based in Cape Town, STREETS is the first organization in South Africa to recognize that the long-term solution to the problem of children living on the street is to address the issues that cause them to leave home. It is dedicated to resettling young people from streets in their homes or appropriate homes in their communities.

David Fortune, the founder of STREETS and an Ashoka Fellow, saw that the existing system of shelters and reform schools not only failed to do this, but also created a class of young people without ties to community or family. Fortune overcame the early loss of both his parents and eventually worked as child care worker in shelters for children who had been living on the street. This is where he began to develop the idea of reintegrating these children with families and communities.