Mzwandile Noksi, South Africa

 Mzwandile lives in the township of Thokoza. The name means 'happy place in Zulu, but happiness is hardly the visitor's first impression. For a couple of years in the early 1990s, the township was transformed into a blazing inferno in the clash between the people who oppose all change and the ones who were ready to give up their lives for democracy. There was no life here. No people or animals. Just fear', relates Mzwandile, pointing at the grass beside the football pitch. "We found our neighbour there. His head had been severed with a machete Mzwandile was only 7 years old when the fighting broke out. Both his paternal grandfather and a maternal uncle were guerrilla soldiers in the liberation army, and the family was soon forced to flee from the house in Mdakane Street. For four years they moved around and lived with relatives until apartheid was abolished and replaced with peace and democracy. Now he is 17 and has little to say about his country's violent history. Mzwandile is not bitter, but in his opinion there is no point in dwelling on the past. In fact, he has no desire whatsoever to talk about politics. It does not interest him. Rather, it is football that fills his life. His hours with the team 'Double Experience' are more important to him than anything else. As a left-footed striker, he is their foremost scorer, and he has been nominated Player of the Year. ` He dreams of becoming a professional Just like Benny McCarthy in the national team. I had a tough childhood too. But he never gave up', says Mzwandile, adding, If it doesn't work out I'll become an accountant. Mzwandile is in his last year at upper-secondary school, and when darkness has fallen over the football pitch he does his homework ('it's still too dangerous to be out of doors', he says). School is his passport to a better life, far away from the slums of Thokoza and the small concrete house he now shares with his grandparents and his unemployed father. Not that long ago he had everything worked out. He planned another couple of years of studies and hard training and then he and his girlfriend would start living together. But it all suddenly went wrong. After several years together she said I was 'a mistake', he says. 'T miss her, but I can't afford to let it get me down. Anyone who wants to get ahead has to stay on top of things. • ANNIKA FORSBERG  

Gabriel Virrueta, USA 

Eighteen-year-old Gabriel lives in the El Sereno section of Los Angeles. It is a fairly poor and violent area, where most of the residents are of Latin American or Asian origin. He shares a minimal room at his parents' home with his girlfriend Gladys, 19, and their 1-year-old daughter, Ashley. Gabriel's family rents a three-room flat in a building owned by the city. Only low- income tenants are allowed since the rents are subsidized. Gabriel dreams of moving to a quieter and safer area, for his daughter's sake. The other day there were shots from a passing car, straight into the yard where we were standing and talking to a neighbour. My mother's car was hit. Next time, it could be Ashley'.  CARMILLA FLOYD

This is a few of the 32 portraits of ` teenage rooms´ around the world that I did for the Swedish Unesco. The book we put together and was spread to schools all over Sweden is called Utrymme. The English version was sponsored by The British Council and is called Space.