It’s noon in Nairobi, Jan 22. The Kasarani’s Moi International Sports Centre is an explosion of color and energy. There are hundreds of men and women, young and old, from all over the world. There’s a nonstop coming and going in every direction. Standing in front of a stall of straw bags, is Japheth. He is 24 but looks younger. He is one of the 45 vendors of The Big Issue Kenya. It is the first ever street paper in Kenya, and the fourth in Africa, after The Big Issue Namibia, Homeless Talk and The Big Issue South Africa.
Japheth is happy; he has a job, which is great for a young man from Kibera, the biggest and poorest of Nairobi’s slums.
He is proud too. And the reason is because he is selling a street paper which has been just inaugurated during the World Social Forum 2007. Giving Africa a voice is one of the Forum’s main objectives. To give voiceless people a voice and a place in the world is also one of The Big Issue Kenya’s purposes.
“To relieve and fight poverty, to encourage social inclusion, to give young people real opportunities and to help them to become more autonomous and independent from aids; these are the reasons why we have created this street paper,” says Clement Njoroge, editorial manager of the project.
“Our current 45 vendors, who are from the Kibera slum, took a training course on street paper vending; how to keep people’s attention, how to talk politely and how to sell effectively. From every street paper they sell, they earn 50 percent of the cover price,” says Cosmas Nduva, the project’s social development manager.
“The more they sell, the more they earn,” says Stephen Waema, the The Big Issue Kenya distribution manager. “And on the first day, within a few hours, our vendors had sold 200 copies of the 5,000 magazines printed for the paper’s first edition.”
The Big Issue Kenya is a 20-page magazine which has been created by professional journalists. The content is varied and different; everything is related to Africa and it talks about the African continent in an objective way, without a superficial or dramatic point of view.
The main issue of the street paper’s first edition is a report by Zachary Ochieng about Nubians, a small Kenyan community, which is discriminated against and deprived of even basic rights. There are others articles, one of them is about the sex tourism — something the Italians and Germans cannot be proud of.
The street paper’s creation took one year, a lot of work and energy from professional people who worked for free and gave their expertise to start this great opportunity for Kenya’s poorest people.
“We hope this project will develop to became a really profitable life support for many people,” says Cosmas Nduva. “So far, we have received a lot of support, including from The International Network of Street Papers which works with its 80 members in some 30 countries.”
“The magazine’s formula gives us the opportunity to sell commercial advertising space that permits us to become more self-sustaining. The advertisements we would like to encourage will also be useful for the readers: health, food, cosmetics, clothes, phone providers, etc.,” says Stephen Waema.
Now 45 young vendors have the opportunity to earn an income for themselves and their families. And they aren’t simply earning money but something of greater value, self esteem and autonomy.
