The struggle
I grew up in Durban, South Africa, in a home affected by poverty, alcoholism and domestic violence. My mum sometimes worked two or three jobs to provide for us, while my father struggled with alcohol and could be violent.
Some childhood memories never leave you. I remember being sent to exchange empty bottles so we could buy food. The money fell through a hole in my pocket. When I returned empty-handed, my father did not believe me. He grabbed me, held a knife to my neck and threatened to kill me.
I learnt how frightening life can feel when the person who should provide safety is someone you fear.
My father died when I was 17. For years I had prayed for God to change him. When that never happened, I walked away from faith and decided to live for myself.
The success
I chased money, sex, alcohol, drugs and success. From the outside, parts of my life looked successful.
By 27, I had a well-paid job at Brandhouse, where I was ranked the third-best salesperson out of 200 across South Africa. I drove my dream car at the time, a Hyundai i20, rented my own apartment and had a girlfriend.
My ambitions were even bigger. I dreamed of becoming wealthy, owning beautiful homes and luxury cars, travelling the world and building a successful business. To me, success was measured by money, possessions, status and ultimately my own happiness.
Inside, I became empty. At 27, I knew I did not want to live that way anymore.
Finding significance
A friend invited me to church, where I encountered Christianity in a different way than I had ever before.
I heard about a God who loved me despite everything I had done. Over the following weeks, I became convinced God was real and gave my life to Jesus.
My new beliefs changed my behaviour dramatically. It also changed how I saw others.
I was still ambitious and at one stage I applied for around 1,000 jobs and knocked on many doors looking for sponsorship to move away from South Africa. Studying for an MBA eventually provided me a route to move abroad.
I moved to the UK permanently in 2014 and built a sales career, eventually joining Gartner and becoming one of its top-performing sales professionals.
Volunteering
I used to judge people who I saw struggling or who were homelessness, and assume they were solely responsible for their circumstances.
But as my faith developed, my previous judgement was replaced by compassion.
I remember getting to know a man who was homeless. I took him to church and noticed people’s discomfort around him. I felt protective, almost as though they were judging my own brother. I developed a desire to stand alongside people society often walks past.
That desire turned into eleven years of volunteering with people experiencing homelessness, including street outreach, winter shelters and supporting people in emergency accommodation.
In 2020, inspired by Charity: Water founder Scott Harrison, I went 35 days without food, drinking only water, and raised £4,321. I subsequently spoke with Scott about my vision to start a charity the next year that focusses on ending homelessness.
But somehow ‘next year’ became ‘one day’.
Deeper significance
I met Rowina in 2020 and we married the following year. Walking out after our wedding, I had an extraordinary realisation: I am enough.
I didn’t need to become somebody else for someone to choose to spend her life with me.
Later, becoming a father deepened that transformation. I have few memories of simply spending time with my own father but I want my children to remember a dad who was present. Fatherhood and family loss have made me conscious that our time is limited.
And as I approached 40, I kept returning to my dream of working with people who are homeless. I could not stop thinking: how long do you keep a dream in your heart before you actually pursue it?
Future plans
I am grateful for my corporate career; I am not running away from it. But I believe God is asking me to use what I have learnt about resilience, relationships, leadership and perseverance differently.
I don’t know how to solve homelessness, but I want to learn from experienced practitioners and understand what genuinely helps people achieve lasting change.
Ultimately, I dream of building an organisation which helps people move beyond homelessness towards stable housing, health, meaningful work, relationships and purpose.
Twenty years from now, success would not be the size of the organisation or my job title. It will be based in knowing that I have helped people who once experienced homelessness to thrive – and helping others make that same journey.
For years I said, ‘one day’. Now is the time to begin.
Mazi starts a new job working for a homelessness charity in January 2027. Please pray for him as he starts this new chapter in his journey.
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