As INSP’s #VendorWeek continues around the world, a ground-breaking new project is on the verge of launching in Mexico City. INSP speaks to the founder of Mi Valedor - the world’s newest street paper.
Mexico’s capital city is home to tens of thousands of homeless people living on the streets. Many live their whole lives without ever having a place to call their own. Some are the third generation of their family to be born into homelessness. Opportunities to escape the cycle of poverty are limited, and violent gangs prey on the estimated 40 percent of the country’s population who live in poverty.
In this challenging and dangerous environment, 26-year-old
artist Maria Portilla is leading a team of six brave young women — all in their
mid-20s, and without any prior experience in the magazine industry — to bring
her home country its first street paper. Mi Valedor will soon join 114 street newspapers in 35 countries around the world that are part of INSP (International Network of Street Papers)
“Mexico City needs this,” Maria says. “There are
grandparents who were born in the streets and have lived their whole lives
there. There are very few organisations, or laws from the government, to help
homeless people. The government doesn’t even have a proper count of the people
living in the street. So they are super-excluded. They don’t have any good
attention or facilities.”
Mi Valedor has recieved support from INSP to launch their street paper. Mi Valedor is “my pal” in Mexican slang, but Maria
says its meaning for them is “something like ‘my protector’ or ‘someone who
looks out for me.’ That’s what the street paper aims to be for its vendors."
Alongside Catholic charity La Carpa (The Tent), they have
already recruited 10 vendors to start selling their publication. They hope to
add to that number soon with help from Street Soccer Mexico, the local
organization that sends a team to the Homeless World Cup each year.
Over the past weeks, the women have been getting to know the
people who will be selling Mi Valedor. Having based the Mi Valedor office in a
creative area, they aim to link their vendors into that community. They
recently ran a sewing workshop for the group (see right).
“All of them have lived many years on the street. Three of
them have lived all their life on the street, since they were children,” Maria
says.
The stories of how they became homeless may be varied but one thing binds all of the vendors: they want a way out of homelessness and off the streets. “They don’t want to be there anymore,” Maria says.
The stories of how they became homeless may be varied but one thing binds all of the vendors: they want a way out of homelessness and off the streets. “They don’t want to be there anymore,” Maria says.
Miguel Angel Valencia, a 53-year-old Mi Valedor vendor
agrees. “Today, I woke up with the motivation to keep going, and not return to
the way things were before,” he says. “I learned from the streets; it’s easy to
lose yourself there, as an addict, no job, just wandering. Now, I am looking to
correct things. Employment is what I was looking for.”
This is a summary of an article written by INSP's Laura Kelly for our News Service. Street paper staff can view and download the full article here.
