Table of contents for Issue 336 2025 in The Big Issue

Happy New Year to all our vendors' customers, and welcome to the first Big Issue edition of 2025. This year, we are going to trial new media products, which we hope you will enjoy and purchase, thereby supporting our vendors when they sell them to you. Our aim is to broaden our product range so our customers have a wider range to choose from for their various needs. For example: A year calendar for important events which will have one vendor art image per month; vendor art books consisting of a collection of vendor art images; blank sketch books; lined notebooks; a crossword book; a recipe book of Cape classics; colouring-in books for six to nine-year-old children from our little issue magazine; and single-themed standalone little issues on numeracy, games…

Hearing is a miraculous and complex process that allows us to experience the rich tapestry of sounds that surround us, from the laughter of your nearest and dearest to the gentle pitter-patter of rain. Understanding the importance of hearing and how to protect it is crucial for maintaining our quality of life. Just imagine waking up one morning not being able to hear. You’ve overslept because you didn’t hear the alarm on your cell phone. You boil water in the kettle for your morning caffeine boost and you can’t hear when the kettle is finished heating the water. You can’t hear the daily news on the radio. You get to work and see your colleagues’ lips moving, but you can’t make out what they’re saying. Just imagine what that life…

Every bracelet tells a story of hope and transformation, proving that small actions can drive big change. There's no doubt that 2024 was a difficult year for many, even as sentiment improved following the swearing-in of a new administration. While change won't happen overnight to grow the economy, create jobs, and reduce poverty, these goals will be harder to attain without a positive outlook. South Africa has the world's highest inequality level, as determined by the Gini coefficient [a statistical measure of income, wealth, or consumption inequality], with a huge discrepancy between those who have, and those who don't. Unemployment is rife – although more jobs were created in the last quarter, declining from a two-year low. The economy, too, is stagnant. Having gained an adjusted 0.3% in the second…

Before we get stuck in, let’s look at some karate terminology: • Dojo: room or hall where martial arts are practised • Sensei: martial arts teacher • Black belt: someone who has reached the highest level in karate • Dan: ranking system used in martial arts to indicate the level of a person’s ability • Shotokan: a linear Japanese style of martial arts • Kimura Shūkōkai: a style of karate developed by Sensei Chōjirō Tani in 1949 • Budo and Bushido: the way of the warrior; an ethical code developed between the 11th and 14th centuries • Karateka: practitioner of karate. GROWING IN STATURE Donald Kapambu taught karate for many years before striking out on his own in 2020, just as the Covid pandemic gripped the world. He began in…

Email elainemillin.art@gmail.com to buy an artwork featured here, donate materials and to find out more about the programme.…

The Big Issue is embarking on a new editorial strategy, and we are exploring sourcing great content via a regular monthly agreement from the best independent media houses and contributors to provide a story each. We will still stick to our brand DNA of covering the big social issues of the day, but need to find a way of sourcing great content at no cost or on a very, very reduced cost basis. The Big Issue is a “Publication with Purpose” (social enterprise job creation project), and we are hoping that our journalistic peers will join us in our social purpose by simply providing one free story per month for publication in our magazine. Many people want to contribute to the job creation for vendors of The Big Issue, but…

The V&A Waterfront, Cape Town’s iconic mixed-use destination, experienced a standout December period, welcoming more than 3 million visitors and achieving record retail sales of almost R1.4 billion. On 31 December alone, approximately 200 000 people visited the Waterfront throughout the day to enjoy its amenities as well as its New Year’s Eve celebration, confirming its status as a hub for fun and festive activities and a key contributor to Cape Town’s tourism economy. “The December period is always special at the V&A Waterfront with locals and tourists making their way to enjoy the best of what we have to offer, and [last] year was no exception,” says David Green, CEO at the V&A Waterfront. “Over 3 million visitors for the month and 25 million visitors for the year re?…

For those who aren't from Cape Town, imagine living on a long, narrow peninsula – almost like a long thumb sticking out from a hand – with a mountain running down the centre of its entire length, surrounded on three sides by sandy white beaches and then capped with a culturally rich city adjacent to a harbour. This realisation was brought home to me when my two teenage children, Maya and Jackson, who live in New Jersey, USA, spent the festive season back home in Cape Town with me for three weeks. They are 50/50 USA/South Africans in terms of how many years they have lived in either country – more semigration continentally than Joburg to Cape Town. Either way, the outcome is the same – an enthusiastic feeling of…

We live in a world where our mobile phones have taken over our lives completely. They reside with us, from the time we turn our lights off at night and shut our eyes tight; to during the midnight hours when we wake up intermittently or struggle to sleep; to the time we eventually awake to the morning light, either fitful, blurry eyed and tired from an interrupted night's rest or maybe feeling well rested. Our cellular phones, another partner in life, or perhaps an only partner in life, are always just a hand-stretch away. And so, with outstretched hands, we pick them up, no matter what time of day or night, we are on them, checking messages or emails, receiving or sending greetings or endlessly browsing and searching. Prioritising our…

MAKE A VENDOR'S WISH COME TRUE Get in touch with us at placements@bigissue.org.za Cape Town City Bowl Vendor name: Monica Vuka Vendor number: 1948 Pitch: Corner of Hans Strydom and Buitengracht streets, Cape Town. Through the wellness workshops offered by The Big Issue and through her own determination, she has attained an ECD qualification, extended her house with shack building material, and opened a play school. Her crèche fees are very low because most people are unemployed in her area. These fees and her The Big Issue sales, however, assist in paying the child minders and help her to buy groceries for the children attending her crèche. Wish list: donations to build a proper structure that will meet the necessary health and safety standards (her crèche is currently a shack…

I was supposed to travel to Juba in southern Sudan and from there to the town of Yei close to the border with Uganda. When the message with the instruction arrived by cable one morning at our office's radio room in Honduras, where I was stationed at the time, I did not know that a place called Yei existed. I showed the telegram to a colleague who congratulated me and playfully sang “yei, yei, yei” to the tune of The Beatles' ‘She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah’. A month later, I set foot in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, for a brief stopover. Onward travel was scheduled for later that month. After three weeks of waiting, I realised that I was stuck. Armed rebels were shooting at planes as they descended to…