Even during the pre-Christmas season, you can also notice in the streets of Bratislava people who, under the banner of Nota Bene, try to sell a street newspaper to passers-by—a publication that has been operating in Slovakia for 12 years. It is about selling Nota Bene by real vendors, as well as about eliminating fake vendors, but above all about social work with people without homes, says Ivan Lorenc—lawyer and above all social worker from OZ Proti prúdu.
You have been working with people without homes in Bratislava for seven years. How does someone decide to pursue this type of social work?
First of all, it was not a carefully planned decision. As is often the case, it was rather a coincidence of fortunate circumstances. It all started during the harsh winter of 2005–2006. Back then, I worked as a waiter in one of Bratislava’s cafés, and it seemed right to me to become a volunteer in a city-based initiative set up as emergency support for people on the street (so they would not freeze outside).
Do you use your original legal education in this work (to help people in need)?
I first started by helping with basic legal advice, and only much later (after attending several trainings and gaining experience) did my work begin to resemble social work more closely. This was certainly also thanks to the very good social worker who was then active in our civic association. I am now very grateful for the combination of education I received. It allows me to see people’s problems from multiple angles. We still help with basic legal issues in the association, trying to protect our clients’ rights. In addition, we bring a social dimension that views a person more broadly.
What types of programs, projects, support, or counseling does OZ Proti prúdu offer?
The focus is the opportunity for sellers to earn money by selling the magazine Nota Bene. I deeply value everyone who starts selling a street paper. For them themselves (but often also in the public eye), it is somewhat like a public acknowledgment that something in their life did not work out as they had hoped. At the same time, it is also the first step toward improving their quality of life. Everything seems to start with the sale of our magazine. This can be followed by individual or group social counseling, as well as by participation in various leisure and interest activities (such as the football world championships for people without homes). OZ Proti Prúdu is also the publisher of several books whose authors are current or former Nota Bene sellers. Two of them are currently in pre-Christmas sales by our sellers. Some projects have long since become independent, while others are connected with us through our sellers. Skvelé Divadlo bez domova has already become quite well known.
You are in charge of group counseling for Nota Bene sellers. How does such a session look, and what is its goal?
We started group work a few years ago, and it has several forms. At first we began with groups for beginner sellers, whose purpose was to ease people’s entry into the project and define basic sales rules and boundaries. Now, thanks to grant support, we are developing group work intended to include all active sellers. These are seller meetings where, through feedback and group dynamics, we try to support their sales, provide them with a different view of themselves, and thereby develop their communication and social skills. At the same time, we try to pass on information that may later prove useful or be indirectly useful. Sometimes, however, it is also a case of laughter through tears. For example, a meeting on debt relief and its legal framework in Slovakia ended up with clients themselves clarifying that that path does not lead anywhere (ironically, precisely because of the high costs of the debt-relief process itself), and that they can devote their energy to something else...
We often hear the phrase “Capitalism is to blame” as a reason for homelessness. How is homelessness actually defined in Slovakia—who can be included in this definition (and why)?
A person without a home is someone without shelter; without an apartment; living in insecure conditions (without sufficient income) or in unsuitable conditions (too many people in one place, poor housing conditions, no electricity, etc.). The definition would be much more useful if it were also part of the legal system. It is more important to realize that people form a community where individuals will be as well-off as the whole is—so individual freedoms and the standard of living also depend on who participates in creating values. Simply put: when people have somewhere to wash and somewhere to live; when they have somewhere to spend their time meaningfully, to fulfill themselves, to work, then the standard of life improves for all of us. That is why I find it sad and mistaken that there is constant emphasis on how society is paying for those “other people,” the so-called asocials... The problem may lie in poor social work, but also in how state institutions and the entire society function. Capitalism as a social order cannot be blamed for this—it is just a concept whose meaning is shaped and filled by specific people.
What do your “your” sellers most often come to you with? What do they need advice or help with?
The problems people bring us are varied and depend on their level of involvement in the project. For some, solving their sales spot is the most important thing. Others find it important to get help finding accommodation, help with obtaining documents, or benefits for material hardship, pensions. For some clients, counseling is very comprehensive and includes, for example, family relationships, and even help with dealing with their health condition, mental health issues, or further life direction.
Which activities do you refuse to do for them, or on their behalf? How do you motivate them to learn work habits and new skills?
Our work is based mainly on conversations, to which (if needed) assistance and interventions in various institutions (employment offices, municipal offices, or hospitals) can follow. Slovakia is a rough country for people with disabilities in any form. So sometimes our intervention is also needed in the form of defending our sellers’ rights. At the same time, we try not to take on too many duties that belong to the other side (not us). I do not see the project as charitable, although charity has its place in society.
Can you give an example of a “success story”—a positive example of one of your clients?
A success story is already that someone starts selling the magazine! Our sellers have to buy it first at half price; they have to learn to plan and manage. Going to work from the street or a night shelter is truly very difficult. Selling a newspaper is a bit like a job. Success is when a person begins to care for themselves, or for their loved ones. Whether they manage to find regular employment or housing (according to other people’s expectations) already depends on many circumstances. It is unrealistic to expect that, at a time when it is not easy for many people in Slovakia to find suitable work and housing, people from the streets will quickly become employed and buy apartments on credit... Here important criteria are age, education, health condition, family background, and certainly the state of society. Sometimes it is positive even that our sellers again start paying child support for their children, or repaying debts. But there are also examples in the association where people have truly managed to significantly improve their lives.
What is the principle of helping people through the sale of the monthly magazine Nota Bene? For how much do they pick up the magazines, for what amount do they sell them, and what do they get from that?
The seller buys the magazine from us at half price and now sells it for €1.40. From the profit they must cover basic needs. The price of one bed in a double room ranges from 100 to 150 euros per month. When you add costs for food, clothing, and healthcare, it becomes clear that this amount exceeds, for example, the living minimum.
How many genuine sellers and saleswomen of Nota Bene are you currently registering in the Slovak Republic, and how many specifically in Bratislava?
In Bratislava, over the last 12 years, more than 2500 sellers have been registered (about 160 remain active over a long period). These are the sellers who have an assigned sales location and come to buy magazines from us at least once a week.
Among your registered and trained sellers and saleswomen (with an assigned registration number and sales location), people often talk about “territorial fights” with so-called “black sellers.” What does that mean?
Nota Bene has gradually become a brand showing an active effort by a seller to improve their life. There are many people who appreciate this principle. Naturally, that also attracts more people—so that they might exploit it in the same way. That is why many people move around in the streets who are not authorized to sell the magazine Nota Bene (because they violate sales rules, or because selling the paper is beyond their means). Often they do not even sell the magazine itself (they get it by other means, often illegally) and use it only as a means of triggering sympathy and getting money from passers-by, potential buyers. I understand their situation and even have sympathy for it, but on the other hand they give the project and the official sellers a bad name.
How can ordinary buyers recognize and help remove these fake sellers?
Our options for addressing the problem of black-market selling are limited, so it helps us greatly if people actually buy the magazine from official sellers who stand at assigned spots with an ID card showing the sales place and registration number (matching the number printed on the magazine).
How many magazines do sellers and saleswomen sell on average per month, and what does it depend on?
Monthly sales vary greatly among individual sellers. Many of them have occasional jobs alongside selling Nota Bene, or their sales are limited by health condition or age. When a seller begins and sells 50 copies in the first month, that is good. Anyone who wants to sell over 100 copies a month has to be at their sales spot very regularly and really know how to communicate with customers and buyers.
What happens to magazines at the end of the month that sellers and saleswomen cannot sell (and should have collected a new issue already)?
Older magazines can be returned by sellers (at the ratio of two old copies for one new copy). In total, the number of returned magazines is not very high (since this would put the sellers themselves at a loss).
How many years has your longest-serving NB seller or saleswoman been selling, and how has their life changed in those years?
We still have an active seller number 1. Even though she sells the magazine only occasionally now. Even here you can see that the significance of the magazine lies (beyond earning money) also in creating human contacts and self-realization.
Nota Bene is celebrating its 12th anniversary these days. Can we see any difference or shift? What are the association’s plans for the future?
This question is more for the organization’s leadership than for me. Still, I am glad that the organization still exists and that it offers a unique means of helping people who are in need in this way—through the magazine Nota Bene. I am glad that in quality it does not lag behind other monthlies in Slovakia. Sellers do not need to be ashamed of what they offer. Over a long period of counseling, I believe it has helped many sellers (and at the same time their families and environment, which influences them). How the organization will look and what services it will offer in the future depends equally on the people who work in it and on the society that creates needs and opportunities.
In the Advent period, three Nota Bene saleswomen earned a living as second-hand clothing sellers at the First Charitable Flea Market in Bratislava (through cooperation with OZ Pluto). How do you evaluate such activities and types of cooperation?
Collaboration between similarly focused organizations could certainly be a major benefit. One association cannot cover all the needs that appear in people’s lives. That is why the fact that saleswomen could try selling clothing in a charitable flea market is understandably a new challenge, a new opportunity, a new experience. How much and in what way it can actually help them, we may not even imagine yet.