Table of contents for Issue 337 2025 in The Big Issue

On behalf of the many families you support by buying a R40 Big Issue magazine from a self-employed vendor, we extend a big THANK YOU to you and all our customers. Your purchase provides a vital lifeline to more than 100 active vendors who on average have six dependants to support. In other words, your R40 goes a long way to putting food on the table for 700 people EVERY month. As we are all too aware, sometimes we ask ourselves “Is that all I got for R300?”, when standing at the supermarket checkout counter and looking at the few items in our shopping bag. This provides a useful context for appreciating the social impact and human value of feeling good by doing good when supporting your favourite vendor. The…

Hearing loss is often overlooked, yet it affects millions of people worldwide, impacting their quality of life, communication, education, and even mental health. It is time we change the way we think about hearing care – by taking proactive steps towards early detection, intervention, and support. Every year, on 3 March, the world comes together to recognise World Hearing Day, a global initiative led by the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness about hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across all age groups. This year, the theme is Changing Mindsets: Let's Make Ear and Hearing Care a Reality for All, emphasising the importance of empowering individuals to take charge of their hearing health. Hearing loss is more prevalent than many people realise. According to the WHO, more…

Imagine being unemployed in the most unequal country in the world. Imagine getting up every morning to go and stand at a traffic light to sell something in order to feed your family. Imagine leaving your family behind to stand in torrential rains, brace the blistering Cape Doctor, sweat drained in the harsh African sun while many people hurl abuse at you or pretend you are invisible. Imagine selling a magazine that carries the hope of making a living to feed your family. Imagine how you can be the change in someone's life when, not if, you purchase a magazine. Not a guilt buy, but a genuine desire to make a change and be the change. A magazine that's not a flimsy put-together, but a product that's a labour of…

Food connects people, bringing a strong sense of togetherness and sometimes nostalgia, evoking a flood of endless emotions and memories. I believe the best memories are made around the table and every dish has a little bit of magic passed down from previous generations, bound by family gatherings, celebrations, and most importantly love. It's the precious moments that hold sentimental value, and finding them in the everyday moments, as you're adding your own touch of magic in the kitchen, while creating new memories of your own. PICKLED FISH MASALA FOR THE SNOEK Ingredients 1 kg snoek pieces 1 level tsp salt 1 heaped tsp garlic flakes 1 heaped tsp ground cumin (jeera) 1 level tsp ground coriander (dhania) 1 tsp chilli powder Flour, for dusting Method • Wash, rinse,…

Flymo released its iconic Hover Lawnmower in 1965. These machines were designed to glide effortlessly by ‘floating’ on a cushion of air, making them lightweight and easy to manoeuvre, allowing you to mow your lawn quickly and easily. A story was told in my hometown of a couple that were out gardening one day – the husband was mowing the lawn and his wife was ridding her vegetable garden of weeds. During the course of the morning, the husband asked his wife to help him move the mower from one area to the other. She was not aware that it was switched on, and as she picked it up, the tips of her fingers were severed. Is this the story of our lives? We often find the best of intentions…

MAKE A VENDOR'S WISH COME TRUE Contact us at placements@bigissue.org.za if you think you can be of assistance. Phelokazi lives in the informal settlement of Green Point, Khayelitsha. She is married and had four children; however, two of them passed away in 2003. Her 24 year old has matriculated, but could not obtain a bursary and is unemployed. Her 14-year-old child is currently at school in Grade 8. Phelokazi's husband is also unemployed so she is the only person bringing an income home. Phelokazi's only form of income is that which she generates from selling The Big Issue. She initially joined the ‘BI family’ in 2003, but had to return to the Eastern Cape in 2019, and could not come back to Cape Town due to financial constraints. She eventually returned…

The hot and humid evening air of Freetown, Sierra Leone, was anything but a welcome relief after a tedious, exhausting flight. The next morning, I headed for neighbouring Liberia. First impressions were not encouraging. A country is clearly in crisis when out-of-control inflation makes handling the currency a daily challenge. I thought of 1920s Germany where people carted their weekly wages in wheelbarrows. In Monrovia, earnings were carried in magnum-sized shopping bags. Going out for lunch meant stuffing bags with greasy notes bound with rubber bands into compact bricks. Bills were quoted in how many bricks you owed. Final destination was Lofa County in the country's sweltering armpit in the remote north-west. The route was a logging track through dense rainforest. It became as slippery as soap at the first…

Word of Mouth (WOM) – an end-to-end retail e-commerce platform – is built with, by, and for the informal economy. It stimulates local trade in informal areas by building trust, capacity and connections, to create new livelihood opportunities where needed most. While other organisations have focused on connecting the informal sector with formal income opportunities, such as markets and jobs, WOM creates local income opportunities and builds local capacity in the informal areas. ECONOMIC EXCLUSION IN LOW-INCOME COMMUNITIES South Africa's low-income communities (‘townships’), are home to nearly 11 million people, yet 70% of these residents’ disposable income is spent outside their communities. With the reported rate of youth unemployment at 44.6% as of the fourth quarter of 2024 (Stats SA, 2024), many young South Africans struggle to secure sustainable income…

I am very excited to be writing this new, monthly pet column. And who knows what wonderful discoveries will be made along the way. Animals have a way of touching us in ways humans can't. I have quite a menagerie of my own. My dogs are divided between the golden oldies and the toddlers. The golden oldies sleep most of the day, like they're at a retirement home. The toddlers, who are quite a rambunctious lot, have no idea what personal space is. My beautiful, fat cat loves her space, her food and snuggling up with her old dogs, when she so feels. Then there are my birds: two parrots whose favourite word is sh*t, and an old, cheeky/grumpy cockatiel that shouts at me if I take too long to…

“They ran to the museum for paintings, I ran to the roof for sunsets” DARNELL LAMONT WALKER (AMERICAN WRITER, DIRECTOR, AND PRODUCER) Email elainemillin.art@gmail.com to buy an artwork featured here, donate materials or to find out more about the programme.…