April 22nd, 2011 Part2 @Manila
Leaving Ate Mely’s house for another vendor, Emily. Arriving to Emily’s, some of her neighborhood children rushed to me, asking to take some pictures. A local anti-poverty NPO launched this community in September, 2007, where 12 families and 40 kids are living together.
In her 9-square-meter room, there were put a bed, a closet, and a bulky TV. “I got this huge TV from a mountain of trash,” Emily explained. I finally realized that some of the buttons of it were missing.
She had been living on the street of Cubao, Quezon-city, where was a long-distance bus terminal. She was at a loss, facing her husband’s alcoholic, however, to begin selling
“Jeepny” since March 2008 and living in this community for almost 3 years giving her a sense of stable life. “I had been always dreaming about living under a roof, when I was on the street. God has just answered my pryers,” says Emily. Her grandson was sleeping peacefully beside her.

April 22nd, 2011 Part1 @Manila
Sweating a lot….It’s how to spend April in Manila.
Visited one of the vendors of Jeepney with a director of the organization, Reah and an intern Simon. Her house was twenty-minute tricycle trip from where I stay.
Began selling this magazine since March 2008, Ate Mely seems really enjoying this job. The 46-year-old lady left her home at the age of 7, with her grandmother to get a job here in Manila. “I came here full of hope, however, life didn’t change that much. I only ate a meal per a day at that time,” she says.
At the age of 12, she began working as a barker, and has been working so hard since then.
“Selling Jeepey helps making my life more stable. I also feel so honored to sell this at shopping mall where is so clean and with air-conditioner.”
As soon as I asked about her dream, it brought her to tears. “I have sons and daughters, however, life on the street make my family apart. My dream is so simple. I hope all my children grow healthy.”

April 20th, 2011 @Seoul---Manila
Leaving Seoul for Manila, which was about 4-hour flight.
Time difference is just one hour, however, the temperature is 20 degrees higher than Seoul.
At the airport, Reah with Jeepney and Simon who’s interning there welcomed me warmly. Enjoyed lunch and Halohalo（meaning "mixing" in Tagalog) together.

April 17th, 2011 @Seoul
A movie “Billy Elliot” was about an English boy with a passion for ballet, then why not for Korean mid-aged men with the same passion!
A famous Korean choreographer, James John gravitated to the vendors of The Big issue Korea and decided to collaborate with them. Surprisingly, they have a plan to perform The Nutcracker on December 30th this year.
At the class, the vendors express their feeling by mime. Their wrinkled fingers, closed eyes and facial expressions tell us “You are beautiful” and “I love you.” After the class, they seemed to be full of warmth in their heart.

April 15th, 2011 @Seoul
The Big Issue Korea has begun with some members of Street Angel, which is NPO organization working for homeless people for 14 years.
Jin Moo Doo is one of the former members of it and the current director of the sales and marketing division of TBIK.
During his working with Street Angel, he couldn’t help realizing that homeless people are not treated as human being. The government seemed just confined them in shelters as prisoners. Right after bumping into The Big Issue, Jin thought this magazine would be a solution for this problem.
After one-year preparatory period, TBIK got launched in April 2010. The government statistics said that there were 5500 people living as homeless, however, Jin thinks the number will four though twenty times more than that, if you count people living vulnerable.
Since the day they started TBIK, Jin has never stopped walking his path.

April 14th, 2011 Part2 @Seoul
The office of The Big Issue Korea (TBIK) is surrounded by fruit market and full of energy even late at night.
A few years ago, however, a shopping mall was built, called Times Square within 10-minuit walk.
Kim Young Hwan, working at the sales and marketing division of TBIK says, the building looks like a monster attacking old ones from behind. He also mentioned that there was one of the biggest slums in Seoul right behind the “Gozilla”.
Crossing a street from Times Square, where everything is perfectly clean, the view was totally different. Years-old vending machines, destroying roofs, mid-aged guys gathering and chatiing on the street…imperfect and unclean, but full of living energy at the same time. You can’t leave there without thinking about sweats, tears, joy and sorrow.
Can’t help realizing how fake the Time Square is when I got back there.
On the way back to the office, I asked Young Hwan, why he decided working at TBIK. Majored in social-welfare, he had been doubting the policy in his country, where government put profit and economic growth before social-welfare. “I have wanted to change their way of thinking,” he said. He met TBIK on the way to his goal.
The dream of his is becoming a social entrepreneur. Witnessing his talking with vendors joyfully, I already saw one.

April 14th, 2011 Part1 @Seoul
Most of the vendors of The Big Issue Korea are in their 50s and 60s but there are some youngsters. Goo Bon Chun is one of those, who is selling this magazine at Jonggak, in Seoul. Just talking with him just one minute or two, you will realize his shyness and warmness. Born as the seventh child, he left home at the age of thirty to be independent economically. Living as a daily-worker, however, heavy work brought him into illness and the life on the street. Thomas House, an NPO organization based at Youndeunpo, Seoul introduced him to The Big Issue Korea.
He showed me his treasure, which was a medal from The Homeless World Cup held in Rio de Janeiro last year (http://www.homelessworldcup.org/). He really enjoyed kids’ coming to him for a signature, because he had been invisible on the street in Seoul for such a long time. “Futsal changed my life and I restored self-respect”, he said, with a big smile.