GQEBERHA - A Gqeberha man who walked over 700 kilometres to Cape Town has received a hero's welcome back home.
Zolani Zondani (30) lost his younger brother to drug addiction.
In his grief, he took on the tough challenge to raise awareness about men's mental health.
His vision: Creating safe spaces for men to express vulnerability and challenge toxic masculinity.
Zondani says losing his mother at 13 and growing up without his father caused emotional and psychological scars.
"As men, we are not advocated for, and as men, we grow up under the narrative of a man doesn't cry.
"And for me, that has a deeper meaning, so man ends up dying from the inside," he said.
"Therefore, I thought of creating a safe space, where men will have a common ground and speak about things that they go through on a daily basis as men," says Zondani.
Zondani set off from home on October 13, walking 100km daily.
The pilgrimage gained significant social media attention, magnifying his message of Broski: The Living Experience project.
The project seeks to raise awareness about men's mental health and address growing gun violence and substance abuse among young men in Gqeberha and around the country.
Zondani expressed gratitude to individuals and the Western Cape government for their support, and urged young people to become agents of change.
- eNCA's Nceba Ntlanganiso filed this report.