From street orphan to community stalwart
Food, donations, business coaching and a chance of a bright future are what Joseph 'Jay' Khoza aims to bring to this town. These are also the things he never had in life.
Every day, hundreds of residents use the Hazyview Information Facebook group with over 33 000 members to post or gather information or to advertise their businesses.
Very few, however, realise that its administrator’s early life of desolation was what led him to this great cause. “I never knew my biological mother and that made life hell for me. My father worked in the mines, so he only came home once a year. He left me to live with my stepmother’s family – a chapter in my life littered with physical and emotional abuse.”
At 10, Khoza was forced to herd livestock for his abusive stepfamily. “I decided to run away from home to look for my father at the mines in Thabazimbi, but I ended up on the streets of Pretoria instead. I remember my first night on the street was at Paul Kruger Square.”
Life was tough for young Joseph. He hardly slept at night when the streets were at their most dangerous. “We slept during the day, in the nearby Burgerspark.” Khoza dreamed of becoming an astronaut. “I tried attending classes and read any paper I could find, until I was admitted to the Jakaranda Children’s Home and Salvokop Orphanage.”
Khoza had to put his dream on hold, however. He came close to having the loving family he always wanted. “One day, an Indian man, Uncle Mike, and his French wife, Auntie June, took me in. They loved me and wanted to adopt me, but social workers prevented this.
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I was taken away from them and put back into the system.” At this low point, Khoza decided to look for his father again. This time he found him. “My father took me back home to Malalane, where I was born, but life took a few ugly turns and I decided to cut myself off from my biological family completely. “Broke and alone, he returned to the streets. “I became a hobo. People would look at me like I was an animal. “
At the age of 13, he reached a pivotal point. “I became a hustler. I washed taxis for money for a school uniform, I bought chocolates and resold them on the streets, I was a petrol attendant, I did any piece job for a little income.”
He lived on the streets until the age of 21. After that, a few good Samaritans helped him pave his way to the future. “A few people helped pay for my education. I went to school and eventually was accepted to Tshwane South College, where I studied office administration. Homeless and on the verge of dropping out due to a lack of funds, the campus chairperson noticed I needed help and told me she would not let me drop out of college.”
Today, 30-year-old Khoza lives in Hazyview with his wife and two sons. He is a project manager for a major engineering company and uses his prosperity to enrich the lives of others.
“I want people to learn to help others without prejudice. I want people to learn that beggars on the streets are not always thugs.”
Khoza’s charity projects are dependent on donations. He calls on the public to take part. To donate, contact Khoza by sending an email to joseph@projouleservices.co.za or calling him on 076-951-5070.
