21-year-old Kevin Wangi was born in Paris, France, to a family of three. At the tender age of just five, his parents separated and his mother moved to London with him and his older brother. Kevin's mum moved from Romford to Woolwich Dockyard, but little did she know her new surroundings would have an everlasting effect on the lives of her children.
'I got caught up in a lot of gang activities and a lot of drugs, it just became the norm for a lot of young people in the area.'
Yet from a low life of drugs and street violence, Kevin is now a leader at his local church as well as a business man.
So how did this amazing transformation happen?
On a faithful afternoon, Kevin described the events that changed his world and his life from an innocent boy to a nationwide drug dealer.
'At the age of 11, I remember seeing one guy on my way home. At that age I didn't know he was a drug dealer but I knew he was doing something fishy, something that wasn't right. He looked so clean, had the best clothes and a nice car. I saw him giving a small little parcel to another guy. The man then gave him £50 and from that he gave me £20 and said 'take that little man'. I was a bit confused but still took it, £20 at the age of 11 felt like I had just won the lottery.'
After a while, Kevin started working for the man and went on trips to give small packages to different people in the area. From there, he continued to admire the man and one day vowed that he would be just like him. However, as Kevin grew older, he started to become more money conscious and decided that it was time for him to be a big boss and wanted to stop working for others.
'At the age of 15 I was getting more serious about drugs and getting jobs outside London. During this time my mum was getting more and more worried, for two weeks straight she wouldn't see me at home.
'I would go to Exeter, Manchester, so many different cities, we would call this going 'country'. I never knew about these places before but as I started to sell more and more drugs, I was getting used to all these different areas. I will sleep there for months, and at such a young age I was so money motivated.'
Kevin believes that there were major factors that influenced his thought processes and lifestyle, however, the main factors stemmed from his family home.
'I don't want to blame my dad for not being around, but not having a father figure was a bit hard. You expect your dad to teach you about rules on how to live and what to learn but the streets did that for me. I also used to follow my older brother a lot. He was known for always having money and the nicest clothes.'
As Kevin progressed in his life and career, he quickly began to realise that a life of drug dealing was also generating a world of strong enemies.
'I wanted to start making money peacefully and more people kept asking me to buy them stuff. So I started hanging around a few friends who were known for stabbing people and I felt better knowing I could get my money peacefully and no one will harass me.
'Being friends with these people got me into a lot of trouble and people would see me and not like me. It was an ongoing cycle of stabbings in different areas and we always had to look over our shoulders when walking around the area just in case anyone came up behind us.'
As Kevin's reputation grew stronger among his friends, so did his enemies. Unfortunately it took the death of a young teenager to realise that enough was enough and that something had to change.
'One of my friends was stabbed in the head, so me and my friends were going to get revenge. Weirdly enough as I was on my way there, I got a phone call saying turn around and go home because someone has just been stabbed and the guy looks like he's going to die. I was confused but still took their advice, turned around and went to a friend's house.
'Just as I got there we turned on the news and saw that a young man had been killed in Welling. We added up the two situations and called our friend who told us what happened and we told him the boy died.'
The victim was 16-year-old Yemurai Lovemore Kanyangarara, who was fatally stabbed in the neck in Welling, South East London in 2011.
'We used to think that you could stab someone, they would get hurt and just learn their lesson. However, in doing that, a young person died.
Some of his friends went to jail. This made Kevin look closer at himself. 'I thought twice about the life I was living.'
The transformation of Kevin's life started to come into effect when he described a situation he was in that could have ended tragically. He feels it was the divine intervention of God.
'One day I went to a party in the evening, but me and my friends had an argument with a few guys that same morning. They found out we went to the party and ran in the house screaming, "Where are they ?" I jumped out the window and ran for my dear life. I looked back and I saw almost 30 boys with knives and sticks chasing me.
'I continued running and I got to a brick wall and dropped. I remember being in so much pain that I couldn't get up and I saw the boys getting closer and closer. This is why I know there is a God. I remember blinking twice and all of a sudden I was over the wall. I was like how did I get over this wall? With a bad foot? I looked over my shoulder and the guys were struggling to get over the same wall that I was now over.
'I knew something wasn't right, because my life literally flashed before my eyes. Even though I wasn't a Christian at the time, I was just so grateful that I didn't die that night because I knew if they caught me, I would be dead.'
After this near death experience, Kevin constantly received messages from his aunt inviting him to church and finally considered it.
'My aunty who used to go to a church called Christ Embassy and would always try and invite me to church. I would always say no and that I'm not interested in all of that type of stuff because I thought church looked boring.
'I started attending church for services, still found it pretty boring but somehow after every service I attended, I gradually started to get to know something. I wouldn't say I knew it was God, but I was starting to know something that I didn't know before.'
The year 2013 was a year that can never be forgotten for the young man from South East London, as he was invited to a nationally renowned conference called 'Higher Life' by Pastor Chris of Christ Embassy in London.
'During the Higher Life conference, they asked for anyone who hadn't yet given their life to Christ to come down. I did exactly what they said and a few minutes after, I gave my life to Christ. It was the best thing ever.'
A transformed man and a new creation, Kevin, through the grace of the Holy spirit was getting closer to his maker, God.
'It took a while to adapt to my new life and was gradual process. But with the help of my mentor and studying my bible everyday, I began to grow spiritually and little by little I started to let go of the things I used to do. I became so focused on the word and saw it as food to my spirit. The word surely changed me, if you see me now and you knew me four or five years ago, you wouldn't recognise me because the word changed me. It's made me.
'The bible says that the word will be able to build you up and surely it has built me up and made me who I am today.'
Kevin admitted to worrying about how he was going to make money and his finances after leaving such a life full of constant money flow, but believed that God would feed him and he will never find himself hungry.
'I put the word of God to work and even when I wasn't employable, he still provided for me. God changed my mindset and my way of thinking. The bible talks about your mentors and your teachers being able to teach you, God became my teacher and I thank God today that I have my own car finance company which is doing very well and I also inspiring youth to become great.'
Kevin wanted to share a word of encouragement for those who are interested in the street life or are still involved in such a life.
'All I want to say is that there is nothing out there that can feed that emptiness that you have, only Jesus can fill that void. The bible says he's the way, the truth and the life, and surely he is. Stay in Christ and remember, just as God told Isaac, "I will be with you and will bless you", remember that God will bless you and be with you too.'
