Lamb stew, served with yellow rice and a tomato and green bean salad is on the midweek "munch" menu at Fairbridge, West Midlands, a charity supporting disadvantaged young adults. The menu has been designed by 16-year-olds Sonia Fereday and Claire Cooper, having found the recipes on the internet.
A web search for African meals produced an array of dishes. Now the friends have to buy the ingredients with £25 supplied by the charity and prepare the food for 10 people, including members of staff. "We chose the simplest recipes," admits Fereday, who has little experience of cooking. But Cooper says she is looking forward to getting into the kitchen.
This is just one example of how young people at the Fairbridge centre in Birmingham are using the internet. Cooper, who is about to start college, also found out what qualifications she needed to study childcare. In the 10 months the girls have been attending the centre, they say they have spent at least an hour a day sending and receiving emails from friends they have made around the world.
This global gateway is provided by a kiosk - about the size of a fruit machine - located in a corner of the centre. "It always has a crowd of young people round it between course breaks," says Sarah Clayton, assistant development coordinator of the Fairbridge project. "Sometimes they're just finding out what's on at the movies; other times it's career information. They haven't got a lot of money, so it's important that it's free."
The SURFiT kiosk is provided by virtual charity YouthNet UK, which aims to expand internet access to dis advantaged young people across England and Wales. Fairbridge West Midlands was one of 10 initial pilot sites, funded by Barclays. It went live in March last year.
Twelve months later, a survey was completed by 205 young people through an online questionnaire at the by-then 29 Barclays-sponsored kiosks in youth advisory centres. It revealed that almost half had never used the internet before. One in three said they used it to seek advice; another third sent emails; and 7% used the kiosk for study purposes. Some 70% of respondents also used the kiosk more than once a day.
During the three months from January to March this year, 30,706 online user sessions were registered at the kiosks. Fiona Dawe, YouthNet UK chief executive, hails the programme as a clear success in tackling the so-called "digital divide".
"There are over 7 million 15- to 24-year-olds in Britain, many of whom do not have access to a PC or the internet, nor the finances and skills to source any information from the internet," says Dawe. "The provision of free internet access has empowered many young disadvantaged people to source information and advice about aspects and issues that impact on their lives and to communicate with potential employees, housing agencies, their relatives and friends."
As a result of its findings, YouthNetUK is extending the SURFiT programme, funded as part of a £3m deal with Vodafone. By the end of this month, 100 youth organisations will have a kiosk, together with three years' free internet access. In addition, a chain of "student pubs", adjacent to universities, is being supplied with kiosks.
YouthNet UK was established in 1995 to design a website that would provide impartial advice to 18- to 24-year-olds on everything from relationships and health to careers and legal matters, signposting the nearest support services. The award-winning site, TheSite.org, now attracts almost a million visitors every month and acts as the homepage on all SURFiT kiosks.
Claire Cooper admits to sneaking a look at its relationship top-tips. "I'm not very good with boys," she says. "I've always been shy. I learned that if someone doesn't like you, don't chase them and don't look desperate."
Doncaster Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (Dacro) and Pendle Pakistan Welfare Association are among centres that have integrated the kiosk into their IT courses. Others leave the users to find their own way around. "It's good to let them find out their own information," says Angela Protain, day centre manager at the London Connection, a day centre for young homeless people. "We help if people can't get on to a site, and we encourage those that ask for a lot of help to enrol on one of our computer courses."
Unemployed Wayne Bartlett, 17, tries to beat the queue for the kiosk by arriving at 9am. He is searching the internet for a job, but has experienced difficulties using the system.
Bartlett says he may take up Protain's offer to improve his IT skills. "I come in here every day to look for work in a warehouse and I write down the telephone numbers of those that seem all right," he says. "But the system keeps crashing because you have to do it a certain way. I may have to go on a course to learn how to do it better."
