Last year I ended up getting off the streets, into crisis accommodation, and into my own housing after five years of waiting. I’m not couch surfing where I can be kicked out, not sleeping on a spot on the street where I can be kicked out by security. It’s my home. I can say to myself, I’ve got a home and can go home.
I’m very grateful to Lou from vendor support, who helped me through. This is my 20th year working at The Big Issue, on and off. I found out about the magazine and what it was all about through vendors on the streets. I was born in New South Wales, but I’d been living in Darwin, which didn’t have anything like it at the time. Twenty years later, here I am. This job is my life.
I normally work about three or four hours in the morning. I used to work for longer, but my mental health came into play, and now I’m working as long as I can, to the best of my ability, while going through a hard time.
I’ve been selling at this same pitch for nine years. I make money every single day. No matter what day it is, I know I can go to work and walk away with something in my pocket – whether it be a bit of money, food, drinks – I know I can make some sort of happy ending for the morning.
Before The Big Issue, I was a drug addict. I wasn’t working. My mother is dead, and I know nothing of my father. I’m not bringing up my childhood – too emotional. I have an 18-year-old son. I don’t get to see him, and it’s not my choice either; he lives in Hervey Bay.
The difference of having the income from The Big Issue – from having nothing to having something – is a big difference. I’m making money to save for a block of land. It’s a goal of mine, an ambition. Not for me, it’s for my son, so when I die, my son’s got something to say: “My Dad left me this; I’ve got this now.” I want my son to have something I never had when I was a kid. I never had anything passed down to me, a house or a block of land.
In my time off I like playing games: Blood Strike, kind of like Call of Duty. I play online with other gamers. You can choose your teams, but I play random – other players around the world playing the same game, at the same time. If they’re not good, it can destroy your game, because you actually spend your whole time trying to revive them. I enjoy it.
Don’t judge a book by its cover, come and say hi and buy a magazine. Get to know your vendors and what we do. Get to know who we are. Customers are more than welcome to sit down and have a chinwag. I give everyone a good morning, doesn’t matter who they are, and I get my good mornings back.
Nathan sells The Big Issue on the corner of Adelaide and Creek Streets, Brisbane
Interview by Lorna Frost
Photo by Barry Street
Published in ed#730