My name is Reza Nelembaye Ngarigota. I was born in 1989 and grew up in a Dutch-African family in The Netherlands. Since a young age I’ve been visiting the African continent as this is where I find my roots. This is also where I first witnessed poverty, and realized that there are a lot of vulnerable young people in this part of the world that don’t have the same chances as we have in the developed world.

I’ve dreamt of helping underprivileged children ever since I was a young boy. In 2013 I felt the urge to actually make my dream come true and do something for the underprivileged in Africa, and took a big step: I quit my job as a youth worker, said goodbye to professional football, and swapped the comfort of home for Benin to do development work there. At a local school I worked as a coach for students and their parents, both physically (sports lessons) and mentally (motivational talks).

In 2014 I returned to The Netherlands and went back to work as a youth worker within various organizations. In 2018 I heard Africa calling again and decided to quit my job once more. I spent 6 months in West and Central Africa in search of the perfect location, and to look for the right target group to try to help in life.