Have you heard of “THE BIG ISSUE”?
Imagine you are a homeless person with scruffy clothes sitting on a busy street, hundreds of people passing you by and some giving you few curious glances.
Yet most of the passersby would probably treat you as invisible or a failure in life.
Despite the fact that we are always telling each other that we should treat others with dignity, we still attach negative labels to the homeless and needy in our society.
Of course, I believe there are some people who chose to become homeless and who are using their homeless status to receive free money from the government. But I also believe there are many people who have experienced some rough patches in life and who have had no choice but to live on the streets. There is nothing more they want than a helping hand that can offer them a second chance.
Recently I came across this UK organization called the “The Big Issue Foundation” and their magazine “The Big Issue”. I am totally drawn to their concept and the method through which they get themselves into this neglected homeless community.
In brief, the organization is founded by John Bird and Gordon Roddick in 1991 and their magazine is written by professional journalists and sold by homeless people.
From their website, they introduce,
“The Big Issue Foundation is a financially independent charity. We believe in a ‘hand up and not a hand out’ and recognize that earning an income is a key step in a person’s journey towards stability and a better life. Achieving something for yourself is 100% more empowering than having it done for you…. We work exclusively with Big Issue vendors. People who are homeless are often excluded from mainstream society, financially impoverished and disadvantaged in multiple ways; we seek to address the fundamental issues attached to social and financial exclusion.”
These people are The Big Issue vendors
There are nine Big Issue projects by the same name in other nations.
- The Big Issue Australia (From June 1996)
- The Big Issue Japan (From November 2003)
- The Big Issue Kenya (From 2007) • The Big Issue Korea (From July 2010)
- The Big Issue Malawi (From 2009)
- The Big Issue Namibia
- The Big Issue The Republic of Ireland
- The Big Issue South Africa (From December 1996)
- The Big Issue Taiwan (From April 2010)
- The Big Issue Zambia (From 2007)
Here is a small video about the magazine.
Its actually next to impossible to receive "free money" when you are homeless....Much easier to receive free money when you have an address.
I was homeless for a few years, I even had a job in that time, but I understand that peoples views are generally tunneled.
...If you wan't a more omnipresent view of things....Money is fake in the first place, and based on debt....literally...also... be sure that "free money" - which is hardly enough to live on if you mean welfare - is definitely NOT the worst thing your taxes are funding - don't believe me either, do your own research, and dive deep.
That being said, a magazine with stories chosen and/or written by the homeless, disadvantaged and ones attached to the "street life" as well as sold by that same group, would have a very positive impact.
Mostly because mainstream news (which includes your cities paper) is a wash of bullshit to distract your mind from reality, and newsworthy stories are often suppressed....like the fact that police take more time to respond to a murder than to kick a homeless person out of a 24/7 coffee shop...
I believe that one city in particular in Canada that would benefit from this is Victoria B.C.
I was homeless there for only a few moths, but I learned alot in my time their.
There was a guy from Calgary who was a good freind of mine known as "star-man" and he had a good relationship with the media, it was his plan to startup something similar. You can read about him here http://www.metronews.ca/news/calgary/2015/09/02/operation-space-station-lifts-off-for-homeless-calgary-man.html