Born British and after graduating as a teacher went to Tanzania as a volunteer and fell in love with the country.  He became a Tanzanian citizen and has taught in secondary schools, teacher colleges and the university of Dar es Salaam.  Finally he decided he was more activist than academic and was founder member of several of Tanzania's most influential NGOs (for gender and education).  After an 8 year stint with UNICEF where he worked to develop and prioritise adolescent programmes, he decided he wanted to go back to working directly with adolescents and young people.  He left UNICEF and joined together with two young people to set up TAMASHA, a youth participatory development centre based in Arusha Tanzania which works with young people to develop their capacity and advocate for their rights in societies where there is often little acceptance, even now, of the potential of young people once they are given the chance.

Mabala is also a writer of children's books, training manuals in life skills, gender and youth development and satirical columns in the newspapers.