Our vendors: Cyril Mylambiso (The Big Issue South Africa, Cape Town)

When Cyril Mylambiso started selling The Big Issue South Africa in Cape Town four years ago, he had lost his job, separated from his girlfriend and felt like a failure because he couldn’t support his two children. 

Today, as he stands on the streets of Cape Town in his blue vendor bib, which states his main goal is to support his family, Cyril is proud proud to have held down a job for so long.

He explains how The Big Issue South Africa is helping him find better work opportunities and the confidence to rebuild his relationship with his children.

“I’ve been a Big Issue vendor for four years. It hasn’t been easy for me, because I could never hold down a job for too long. I don’t have many skills, so the jobs that I apply for are often contract positions, which eventually come to an end.

“When I lost my last gig, it really hit me hard. My girlfriend and I decided to part ways around the same time and I felt like a failure because I couldn’t support my two children, who were very young at the time. A friend from my neighbourhood told me about The Big Issue and I decided to give it a go.

“It feels good that I have been able to stay in one place for so long. Some people may think that selling the magazine is not a real job, but to me it is. 

“For the first time in my life I have been able to hold down a job. It has restored my confidence. I am dedicated to selling out each month. I make up to R250 a day – sometimes even more. I love selling the magazine and I am so happy to be the Vendor of the Month.

 “Right now I am not in a hurry to move on because I have been so happy, but I know that sooner or later I will have to move on to something better. The Big Issue is a hand up, not a hand out, so for my children I will have to seek employment where I can earn more.

“My advice to new vendors would be to make use of all the opportunities that The Big Issue offers. Right now, I am focused on improving sales but my goal for the year is to work on getting a new job.”

This is a summary of an article from The Big Issue South Africa made available to street papers in our network via the INSP News Service here.

Write on! Street paper vendors help promote literacy in Macedonia

Lice v lice vendors have been helping to promote Macedonian literature and improve reading habits by joining a special campaign run by electrical distribution company, EVN Macedonia.

On May 7, the street paper vendors attended the campaign's launch at the Skopje Book Fair to sell a special edition of the Lice v lice.

The issue was packed with feature articles, interviews and news reports that highlighted Macedonian writers and explored how literacy levels could be improved across the country.

Dressed in their Lice v lice uniforms, vendors also carried backpacks displaying large bookmarks emblazoned with the reading motto – “Create your habit" to promote the pleasure of reading.

The vendor team also handed out free books from several Macedonian publishers ("Tabernakul”, “Tri”, “Goten”, “Ars lamina”, “Magor”) to the first 100 readers that bought the magazine. A free anthology of work produced by young Macedonian authors was also given as a special freebie to every Lice v lice customer.

The event was hosted by Macedonian journalist, Ana Zafirova, and school pupil, Ana Stankovska. It also included poetry readings and several educational writing and drawing workshops for school children.

Famous Macedonian actress Verica Nedeska – Trajkova is the cover star of the latest Lice v lice magazine promoting literacy and literature.

Photos by Tomislav Georgiev.

(Cover pictured left - photography by Milena Viitman, design and illustration by Evgeny Viitman).


To learn more about promoting Macedonian literature and new authors, go to Raskazi.mk. For more Lice v lice news, click here.

"They are fighting. Shedia's vendors never give up"

Shedia, Greece’s first street paper, launched two years ago in Athens. Today, the publication is still going strong, and supports around 160 vendors, 17 of whom are now in permanet housing. But one third of Greeks still live below the poverty line and the list of people looking to Shedia for help continues to grow. 

Editor Chris Alefantis speaks about the current situation in Greece, the vital work Shedia does and its incredible vendors.

Shedia came about from the desire to support those who had been most seriously affected by the economic and financial crisis. One could also say that Shedia is a result of the rage surrounding injustices which have happened to the vast majority of Greek workers and the middle class. We had to do something to help those affected. The same goes for the thousands of people across the country who have set up networks of solidarity and who are helping in every possible way. These are grass roots answers to a bigger problem.

If you look at the figures, it becomes clear that not much has changed over the past five years. The unemployment rate continues to be around about 26%, and the youth unemployment rate is 50%. People have been job seeking for years without success. We are especially concerned about those who are aged 45 and over. Their job prospects are particularly bad.

The queues outside soup kitchens are continuing to grow. Hundreds of thousands of people don't have health insurance anymore. How can we allow this to go on? The number of long-term unemployed people is so great, and that's dreadful. If you walk around Athens, you don't see many people smiling.

On the other hand, we support each other in everyday life. In an interview with us, the famous Greek author Vassilis Alexakis said, "We have no other option than to be optimistic." We should try that and continue to fight for a better future, both individually and collectively. This is also the stance taken in our street paper vendor meetings.

99% of our vendors are victims of the financial crisis. They had a job, a place to live, a family. They lost their jobs, then a few months later they lost their homes, and then they lost everything. Architects, former publishers, tradesmen or shop owners work at Shedia, as do people who have worked in unskilled labour. They were the first victims of the financial crisis. Their stories are those of completely normal people. On the one hand it's sad, and on the other their determination to get their old life back is impressive. They are fighting. Shedia's vendors never give up.

We also support our street paper vendors in their search for jobs and accommodation. Seventeen formerly homeless street paper vendors already have their own small flat paid for using the income that comes from selling street papers. We are delighted when it works. For us, this is a common victory. It's our readers who make this happen when they buy a street paper.

Our dream is that Shedia becomes superfluous, that all of our vendors find "regular" employment, through which they can earn their living. We also dream that we will reach the point where we will no longer need a street paper. We all look forward and work hard towards a better future. It's hard work, but we'll manage to do it. As Vassilis Alexakis says, "We have no other option than to be optimistic."

This post is based on an interview by Bastian Pütter originally published in German street paper Bodo. It was made available to INSP members in German and English via our News Service and has been republished widely across our network.

Our vendors: Mark (The Big Issue Australia, Adelaide)

Years of smoking, drug use and alcohol addiction had taken their toll on Mark's health, which in turn made it difficult for him to keep a steady job. Then last year, he started selling The Big Issue Australia seven days a week in Adelaide. He says being a vendor has completely changed his life. 

"You know, once I was a real wild bastard. And even up to when I turned 50 I thought I'd grow old disgracefully," says Mark. "Then, six months ago, I came back to Adelaide and totally changed my life around. Instead of being a wild man, doing The Big Issue has put some direction and discipline in my life."

Mark grew up in Woodforde, a suburb of Adelaide, in South Australia. After leaving school in Year 10 - "they asked me to leave. [They] rang up my parents and said I was wasting their money and the school's time" - he went to a technical college for a few months, then got a dead-end job in the motor trade.

"After a year [of that] my old man gave me an apprenticeship in the family butcher shop," Mark recalls. "That was in 1978 - I've still got all my fingers! But I had to retire for health reasons, and then I drove taxis, did bar work, fruit picking…all sorts of things.

"I got put on a pension years ago for chronic alcohol abuse, and I used to be a firm believer in drug testing - namely, what drugs are we testing out today? But it was more so that alcohol was my favourite poison."

Mark first heard about The Big Issue during his five-year stay in Melbourne.

"A friend of mine was selling The Big Issue there - I made enquiries, but I never got around to doing it. I came back to Adelaide 'cos my old man was really ill, and I got the induction course done and started selling.

"They put me back on the pension a couple of years ago for emphysema, and this is the only job I'm capable of doing now."

He normally works seven days a week, mostly at a new pitch on the corner of Gawler Place and Pirie Street, outside the NAB (National Australia Bank).

"I'm getting regular customers," says Mark. "A lot of the businesspeople like the magazine, and now they can walk out of their business and find a vendor on the way to the coffee shop. I've got a big personality and a big work ethic - they treat me as another one of the workers down Pirie Street now.

"Material wise I've got bugger all, but since I've been doing this I've bought myself a good camera and a watch, so I have something to show for the money that I've earned."

This is a summary of a full article from The Big Issue Australia made available to street papers in our network via the INSP News Service here. Original interview by Peter Ascot.

Megaphone celebrates vendor writing with Voices of the Street

Canadian street newspaper Megaphone has launched the fifth annual edition of Voices of the Street, a special literary anthology of vendor writing.

From Friday, May 1, Megaphone vendors working in Vancouver and Victoria have been selling the special edition for $5 (they buy it for $2.50, and keep the profit).

Since its first issue rolled off the presses in 2008, Megaphone has been dedicated to amplifying marginalised voices and supporting homeless and low-income people.

For the past six years, its vendors have been able to participate in weekly creative writing workshops and their work is regularly published in the magazine. 

"Between then and now, Megaphone has worked with an enormously talented, evolving team of writing workshop facilitators, many of whom are published authors, poets, journalists, and academics," said Megaphone editor Jackie Wong.

"Each week, they've been working with participants to tap into the therapeutic, empowering potential of writing. In the workshops, the writers craft poems and short stories that knock our socks off.

"Voices of the Street is a powerful collection of writing that means so much to so many people."

Many people involved in the workshops describe the process as empowering and even healing.

Loralee Ave Maria Judge is one of 32 published authors in Voices of the Street and was also the cover star of Megaphone's April edition (pictured below), which celebrated the impact of the project.

"Writing, for me, is kind of like drawing the poison out," she said. "It's like getting rid of a poison that no other form of expression - healthy or unhealthy - can do."

Poet and longtime Megaphone contributor Jim Ryder agrees:

"I was in really rough physical shape and mental shape after coming out of a coma. If I didn't get involved with Megaphone and started getting my work out there, I don't know where I would be."

Jim is from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, an area of the city that has gained notoriety for high rates of crime and poverty in recent years. It has become a major theme in his writing.

"I want to write so that someone who is unfamiliar with the Downtown Eastside will listen and understand what it is like," he added.

"A lot of people in the community have never had anyone listen to their opinion. When someone gives you the opportunity to share your story down here, it's totally validating."

Read more about Megaphone and find your nearest vendor here.

Street Sense presents Cinema from the Street

A series of powerful documentaries filmed by Street Sense vendors in Washington D.C. will get their first screening tonight.

The biweekly street paper is sold across the city by homeless and formerly vendors, many of whom also write for the publication. Recently, they were given an opportunity to express their creativity in a different medium - film.

As part of the Cinema From the Street co-op project, ran by professional filmmaker Bryan Bello and Street Sense's Media Centre, a group of eight vendors were taught basic filmmaking techniques to help them write, direct and shoot short documentaries exploring homelessness in the U.S. capital.


Cinema From the Street - Official Trailer from Bryan Bello on Vimeo.

Tonight's screening will include three films made by Street Sense Filmmakers’ Co-op members  Robert Warren, Reginald Black, Levester Green and Morgan Jones. Each will give a unique insight into the struggles faced by the homeless, such as finding employment, reconnecting with family and trying to survive on the streets during a harsh winter.

Street Sense runs regular workshops to help empower vendors by teaching them how to tell their stories in creative ways - through writing, theatre, illustration and film - and practical skills to aid them with job applications, fiance management and accessing housing and health care. You can find out more about Street Sense and Cinema from the Street here.

Cinema From the Street debuts April 29, 6.30 - 8.30 at E Street Cinema in downtown Washington D.C. The event includes a Q&A with the filmmakers and cinematographers.

The D.C. photo blog putting a face on homelessness

American street paper Street Sense recently reported on an engaging and empowering photo blog putting a name and face to the people experiencing homelessness in Washington D.C..

Street Sense vendor Robert.

"It saddens my heart too to see people passed by in the street. People won't even acknowledge a homeless individual or a homeless veteran - or even a veteran seeking assistance. Homeless people, and homeless veterans, are people too. They don't need a hand out, but a hand up."

Street Sense vendor and contributor Robert is now a recognisable face on the streets of Washington D.C. where he sells the street paper, but it wasn't always that way for the formerly homeless veteran.

He knows what it's like to be in need and to feel ignored and invisible, which is why he was happy to be featured on Person First Project, an engaging photo blog  that aims to break down barriers between people experiencing homelessness and those who pass by them every day.

Shiza Farid, Robyn Russell and Julie Schwartz created the Person First Project in December 2014 as a way of reminding people there is a person behind every unique experience of homelessness and poverty.

Chon: "If it weren’t for Street Sense, I'd probably be selling drugs."

The trio partnered up with the National Coalition for the Homeless to connect with people willing to share their own experiences of homelessness. The project highlights these stories via Facebook and Instagram, including a chat with Street Sense vendor Chon, who explains how selling a street paper is helping him build a better future.

"When you stop and talk to people who are experiencing homelessness, you hear that they're really just like everybody else. They are moms. They are dads. They are daughters. They are sons," said co-founder Robyn Russell. "If we could share this with other people, I think it could be really powerful because there are a lot of misconceptions around homelessness."

Russell says the positive comments left on each of their Facebook posts is testament to the power of storytelling as an advocacy tool, and that first-person stories can help change perceptions and open people eyes in a way that a fact sheet full of stats, facts and figures cannot.

Regarding the public who pass by people experiencing homelessness every day, she added: “It’s not that people don't care. I think they do care and I think they don't know what to do. That's how we felt.

"We hope our project can open their eyes and help them feel like maybe they can stop and talk to somebody."

This post is based on an article by Jennifer Ortiz originally published in Street Sense. It has been made available to other INSP members via our News Service here.

Our vendors: Mr Oh "Killer Smile" - The Big Issue Korea

In less than five years, The Big Issue Korea has not only built a solid readership. It has changed the lives of its vendors across South Korea – a nation that has rapidly become an economic powerhouse, yet remains beset by homelessness and unemployment.

Mr Oh sells The Big Issue Korea in Seoul.

Mr Oh – also known as ‘Killer Smile’ – is one of the many vendors in Seoul, the country's capital, who has benefitted from this support. He became homeless after his family business failed, stripping him of his income.

"One day I was wandering around the street trying to get a meal. There’s a place that provides food and someone was there giving out leaflets about The Big Issue and how it can help get you back on track. This really interested me, so I called the office."

Mr Oh has now been selling the magazine at his pitch at Exit 8 of Seoul’s Express Bus Terminal for four years. "On average I sell 30, starting around 5pm when people finish work," he says. "Some people already know about The Big Issue and buy it frequently. They ask how selling is going, and sometimes also offer me a snack – when that happens it’s really nice."

As well as earning a steady income, the street paper has helped him find a home. In South Korea, vendors who sell The Big Issue for more than six months and save more than SKW1.5 million [$1580] can apply for rental support via a government-sponsored program. 

Thanks to this scheme, Mr Oh is now able to rent an apartment in the western part of Seoul. He says that having stable shelter has changed his life. "I have my own things in my house, can buy things I need and when I go to sleep I can think about the future. In the past I didn’t, because I had no hope. It has made a big difference."

Selling a street paper also reconnected Mr Oh with his family: "I live alone, but had a chance to be on TV because of The Big Issue, and my brothers noticed me and found me. I had become disconnected from my family for a long time. I met my brothers and my mother – it was fantastic."

This is a summary of a vendor profile by Patrick Witton, The Big Issue Australia's Contributing Editor. He travelled to South Korea with the Walkley Foundation Australia-Korea Journalism Exchange, with support from Australia-Korea Foundation and Korea Press Foundation. 

The full article has been made available to other street papers in our network via the INSP News Service here. Original interview translated by Claire Kang.

Our vendors: Henrieese Roberts - Street Sense, Maryland, USA

Henrieese Roberts sells American street paper Street Sense on the streets of Annapolis, Maryland. She is also a fierce advocate of HIV/AIDS awareness and policy reform.

Motivated by close personal experiences with friends and family, she began working to raise awareness about public health, sexuality and HIV/AIDS issues nearly 30 years ago.

Street Sense vendor/writer Henrieese Roberts.

"We fear the disease instead of learning how to circumvent it, and be loving to people that do have it," says Henrieese. 

She also writes regularly for Street Sense about these topics, hoping to break down stereotypes and promote understanding of the illness rather than fear.

Having watched HIV/AIDS change the lives of people - damaging their health and presenting challenges in terms of personal privacy, employment and housing - Henrieese is acutely aware that the disease can be crippling for those already living in poverty.

"There are many people that can't afford their medications and are on waiting lists to be treated. There are also a lot of unnecessary deaths," she says.

In 1992, Henrieese herself was diagnosed with histoplasmosis, an infectious disease that has rendered her visually impaired. But she remains optimistic and continues to persevere with her filmmaking and photography career.

"I am going to actualize because I am willing to work hard," she says. 

Through her work she hopes people become more sexually conscious, avoid spreading the disease and reduce the stigma associated with the infection.

This is a summary of an article by Street Sense reporter Jazmine Steele that was published on INSP's News Service. Street paper editors can view, download and republish the full article here. 

Our vendors: Erdzan Sadik - Lice v Lice, Skopje, Macedonia

"Selling on the street was a bit embarrassing for me at first, so I spoke to customers in a low voice. They didn't hear me, they didn't even stop for a moment, so I realized I was going nowhere,” says Erdzan Sadik, who sells Lice v lice in Skopje, Macedonia.

“Now I know that this is a good and decent job and I had to put more effort into Lice v lice so that both the magazine and I would succeed.”

The 21-year-old now sells more copies of the magazine than any other vendor. “The most important thing is to smile, look people in the eye and show them the magazine cover," he says. "It's easier for me now, because I'm not a rookie anymore. I speak to customers loudly and clearly,".

Erdzan shares his sales tips with his fellow vendors and even encouraged his little brother Armando and his father to sell the magazine too. "When they saw that I leave the house clean and that I come back clean, that I am neither tired, nor upset, and I even had money left, they wanted to do this job too," he says.

Training sessions offered by Lice v lice did more to give Erdzan the skills for selling the magazine, they also encouraged him to continue his education.  He has now finished fifth grade in school. "I know that I have to study and I can promise that I will do everything I can to make that happen," he adds.

Photos by Tomislav Georgiev.

This is a summary of a vendor profile written Lice v lice's Maja Nedelkovska that was published on INSP's News Service. Street paper editors can view, download and republish the full article here.

To be homeless in a country while war rages

Maryana Sokha explains the struggles Ukrainian street magazine Prosto Neba faces to support its homeless vendors in Lviv while war rages between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukraine government in the east. Based in Western Ukraine, Prosto Neba’s staff and vendors are far from the conflict but, as Maryana writes, “war...touches everybody here.”

“In Ukraine, the homeless have never been a priority. From the 90s until 2006, our state simply ignored them. There was no legislation, no social agencies to offer support and a prevailing, negative attitude inherited from the Soviet era - if you have no job, it means that you don't want to work, so you are not one of us.

During this time, only a few NGOs operated in Ukraine. The situation started to change after new legislation was introduced in 2006. At least one shelter was opened in every major city, but still, there were always too many problems to solve and a constant lack of finances.

In Lviv, a major city in Western Ukraine, our street magazine Prosto Neba was founded in 2008 with support from the NGO Emmaus - Oselya. We have a community house where 25 homeless people live and work together. We started a street paper to inform society about the problem of homelessness and persuade people to change their negative attitude towards homeless people. Our vendors have become our partners in fighting this injustice and quickly became the voice of our organization.

Today we have five vendors. They do not live in the community house but are involved in different projects like food distribution and charity events. They also receive different kinds of social services through our NGO.

Volodymyr Hilenko sells Prosto Neba in Lviv.

One of our "oldest" vendors Volodymyr Hilenko has sold the magazine for five years. He stays in the municipal night shelter and spends the day at his pitch in the city’s main square. People know him by his yellow jacket and constant good mood. For Volodymyr, it is extremely important to be on good terms with his customers and he is very proud of new friends he's made while selling Prosto Neba. He also acts as a guide for tourists, introducing them to the sites and history of Lviv. Above all else, he is now the one that homeless people approach to ask for help and advice.

But now we have a war in Ukraine. It's in another part of the country, but it touches everybody here. Young men are mobilized to go and defend the territory in Eastern Ukraine. During the last few months we have regular planes that bring dead bodies home from there, to be laid to rest at solemn funerals. If they come back alive, they are in the hospital. The whole local community is trying to support them. All the events in our city are charitable now - concerts, fashion shows, marathons, garage sales etc. to collect money for the army or for the treatment of soldiers.

Of course, in this situation we cannot try to put our homelessness issue somewhere high on the priority list. Once again we have more important problems to solve in our country. That would be the official answer on behalf of Ukraine, I guess. The position of our street magazine remains the same - we keep doing our work. Will it help our vendors to move on? I am not sure right now. At least it helps them to survive and stay safe.”

A longer version of this article is available for street paper editors to download and republish from INSP's News Service here.

Our vendors: Robert Smith - Real Change, Seattle, USA

A couple of years ago, Robert Smith went to the Seattle suburb of Kirkland to sell the street paper Real Change.

As a "stereotypical big black guy" he was worried: "This is an upper-class environment. There's not that many black people around. I was afraid they were going to call the police on me."

Robert Smith. Photo: Mike Wold

While he now has many regular customers, Robert says that "a lot of them don't understand. If I had an opportunity like what they have, I wouldn't even be selling the paper."

For the past nine years, Robert has been on and off the streets, starting in Las Vegas, where he grew up. His mother is dead and his dad, a Vietnam veteran, is serving time in prison. He moved to Seattle five years ago but had a hard time finding a decent job.

"A lot of jobs are just modern-day slavery," he said. "You got people working two or three jobs, making eight, nine dollars. You can't survive off that."

But he adds that being homeless "makes you count your blessings for the little things, just to wash, wash your teeth, take a shower. When you're homeless, these things are all taken away from you."

Sometimes, when he doesn't see a customer for a while, Robert worries that they stopped buying from him because he's too outspoken or even because he doesn't look down-and-out enough.

"Sometimes I've got to be quiet, because I'm a very real person, and a lot of people don't like to hear real things."

Either way, he thinks people would be missing the point.

"The underlying point is to help somebody that's less fortunate. You don't go to church to hear the preacher. You go to church to hear the Word. Just buy the paper."

This is a summary of an article by Real Change reporter Mike Wold that was published on INSP's News Service. Street paper editors can view, download and republish the full article here.

“Selling a street paper gave me back my dad”

Street papers aren't just a source of income for thousands of people across the world. They are also a lifeline. Sandra Corfitz from Denmark explains how Danish street paper Hus Forbi reunited her with her estranged father.

After Sandra’s father Leif abandoned her for a life of addiction and homelessness when she was a child, she never expected to see him again.

Leif Milatz with his grandson on his birthday last year. Photo: Lars Ertner

But then Leif began working with Hus Forbi. When he was interviewed for an article in 2008, Leif said of his then 19-year-old daughter, "She grew up with my mother. When she was two years old, I took her home to my mother and asked her if she would take care of her while I scaled down my drug habit. I'm still working on that."

In the years he had no contact with Sandra, Leif lived on the streets and in shelters. Whenever he was thrown out of a place because of drug abuse, he would go back to living under the main railway station in Copenhagen.

When he started to get back on his feet, Leif asked a family friend finally to contact Sandra on his behalf. "My grandmother and I had almost given up," she recalls. "We were just waiting for the funeral."

"But then he began to sell Hus Forbi. He came back to real life again instead of just sitting and melting in his abuse."

When Leif died in 2013 and Sandra wrote a moving thank you to the street paper through Facebook.

Sandra Corfitz with her son Kristian. Photo: Lars Ertner

"Thank you for the extra 10 years I got with my father," wrote the 25-year-old mother of two.

"Thank you for giving him the strength and the desire to try to be better. Until 2003, I feared losing him to his drug abuse. What changed that year was that he was a Hus Forbi vendor.

"He got a purpose in his life, a way to support himself, a desire to get up and get out. Finally, there was something who expected anything of him in terms of being sober and presentable.

"I had my father again, as I remember him from when I was little. You do a fantastic job and has meant a great deal for my father, my grandmother and me."

This is a summary of an article written by Hus Forbi's Poul Nielsen Struve for the INSP News Service. INSP members can view and download the article in full here.