Too much sunlight messed up a nice picture of Roger but you will get the idea?
I am hardly the most generous of persons but I do witness daily cases of persons in need and lately have taken to giving loose change away at traffic lights when I have to stop for a red light,the value of the coins means little in todays value,not to you you or I but I suspect that a five rand coin means a great deal to anyone of those we see selling that street magazine called The Big Issue.
The magazine works this way ( i think) we purchase a copy,its a monthly edition,for
R12,the vendor receives just R5.00 for their input in that sale,so my R5.00 as a gift, means a one copy sale to him or her? if that vendor has a good day and sells ten to 20 copies,the return on a days work can amount to R100,not much is it?
I have one vendor who normally services the same set of traffic lights,I asked him one day where he was from,turns out its Butterworth in the Transki,one of the old so called homelands.I also asked him his name,he told me but its a xhosa family name,I could hardly pronounce,he then said try Rodger,so Rodger it is! Over the past few months I have now been passing him a sandwich as I drive past each afternoon,its almost a tradition now,some days my arm goes out and I near stop the traffic behind (no comlaints this far) but Rodger always gets a bite to eat,its a small thing but we get on well.
Today the lights were on red,so a total stop was in order,sandwich handed over,I joked with Rodger 'you have no job yet?' he then brought things down to earth for me,yesterday and today he has sold not a single copy,nothing at all,I reached for my wallet and at least managed to put a smile on the guys face.So next time your sitting at the lights,have look around,these people are not begging,far from it,they are doing a job of work,some days for nothing.
Roy
WHO BENEFITS FROM THE BIG ISSUE?
The Big Issue magazine’s vendor-force in Cape Town comprises mainly of long-term unemployed Xhosa-speaking people from township areas.
Job creation is at the core of The Big Issue’s work and critical to this is the development of vendors’ skills. Vendors who sign up with the project benefit from the multi-faceted Vendor Support Programme; the philosophy of this programme is 'a hand-up, not a hand-out' and striving to create opportunities for permanent and sustainable change in the lives of vendors.
The Big Issue magazine has a readership of over 96 000 and has provided employment and social support for 10 000 people, who have earned over R13-million since its inception
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