May 23rd, 2011 @ Amsterdam, Netherlands
The street magazine “Z!” has been sold here in Amsterdam since 1995. Jerome who has benn in charge of distribution said, “We were trying to make homelessness visible for the first five years.” In the beginning, most of the vendors were Netherlanders, however, current ones have 35 nationalities, such as Poland, Chez, former Soviet countries and so on. Their stylish portrait book of vendors published in 2002 reflects its diversity. “Since we don’t receive any governmental money, we don’t care if the person is illegal or legal. The only thing we need to know is that if he is homeless or not,” Jerome said.
He has been spending time with vendors for more than ten years. During the time, what was the hardest moment and what was the most joyful one, I asked. “The most joyful moment is this: one day freshly printed magazine reached to the office and I ran to the truck. As soon as getting to the car, I realized the driver was a former vendor. He got the job after ‘graduating’ from us!”
“The hardest moment was that I needed to attend a funeral of a vendor. She was 49 years old and heroin addicts. I still remember how sad the sound of accordion was.”