A story of hope and hard work

This morning we received a delightful email from Dumitru, who wanted to share his story of how his life was turned around after he started selling The Big Issue.

Simon, our Service Broker, remembers both Dumitru and his wife clearly and told us his part of the story. Below you can read Dumitru’s unedited account of his powerful journey.

It was a cold February morning when Dumitru and Lenuta came into the office and asked about selling the Big Issue magazine, I remember how desperate they were to be given a chance to get out of  homelessness. We arranged an induction there and then.

We referred both of them to Bournemouth Street Services (homeless outreach team) to help them get housing support.  With it being really cold out, the “SWEP” (severe weather emergency protocol) was in place so the street services team were able to get them into a B&B. The Big Issue Foundation team also helped them set up a bank account and they joined our saving scheme. Dumitru gained a job and accommodation provided for them both and he quickly stopped selling the magazine. Even after they stopped selling they still came into the office with coffee and tea for the vendors, one time bringing a small vase with a flower for the staff, which we still have as a reminder of the amazing people we are grateful to be able to help.

DUMITRU’S OWN WORDS

I recently saw a program on BBC about “The Big Issue foundation” and how the  founder of the organisation was cornered by the lady interviewing him, so I decided to tell our story hoping that it will help in the future Mr. John Bird to answer the question “Why are you doing this?”
My name is Dumitru Burghelea and my wife’s Lenuta, we both from Romania.

Miraculously, first night, asking someone some directions, he said that is too late and we should get some sleep because after a good night sleep we will be wiser in our decisions, he then offered to pay for a B&B for us, no question asked.

After that night, followed two nights of sleeping in the underground car parking at a superstore, is there where we met this guy named Mike and he took us to a day center.We kept going there during the day for the following weeks and at night we were sleeping under the pier beach.

At that “day center” we met this guy whom was “working” ( the term used on the streets is “doing the big issue”) for this company that was ” hiring anyone leaving on the streets and on the streets only.

Was the first time we heard about “The Big Issue”, my wife( was my fiance back then) didn’t meet the criteria regarding the language level, but because the manager was very surprised of my English level and because we would’ve take posts near by to each ever, he made an exception.

I did “The Big Issue” for about two-three months(don’t quote me on the period, I might be wrong) and my wife for a bit longer than me. In that period we were walking miles and miles per day, we weren’t traveling by bus so we could save money for a room.

One day a man came to me and said ” I will not buy another magazine because I already bought one today but I just stopped to say hello”, I said that’s fine and he should be worried to much, going deeper into the conversation he was amazed when he heard that I am from Romania. He was frequently going to this Christian-Ortodox church were the priest was romanian, the guy was english. He insisted for us to go there one Sunday to speak with the priest see if we can get some help.

The following Sunday we were there and after the service he said that we can stay, for a while, in the flat attached to the church, He was coming from 100 miles away on Sunday just for the service so no one was leaving in that flat.

O.K so we had a “job”, we had a place to stay now was the time to blend in…

We moved into our first renting property after 2 months and since then we accomplished many things, things that without “The Big Issue” and all its costumers we would’ve not done it.

We stopped doing big issue long time ago but we still go there every once in a while with coffee, sugar or bags of tee, not lately I admit because we got very busy with me studying and my wife maintaining me.

My wife found a job and she works there since she left the “The Big Issue” organisation, she is very respected there and she made many many friends. Working in the kitchen, she is thinking in getting a chef diploma…

Myself on the other hand, beside the fact that I met a lot of people and got into the system, I almost finalized my level 3 qualification in electrical installation, only 2-3 exams left, plus I was accepted to proceed with level 4 in electronics design.

I think we did pretty good and except “The Big Issue” income we didn’t (still don’t) get any help from the Government in benefits or whatsoever, the only thing I have is a student loan but that I have to pay back some day.

All this I write for them to open their eyes and understand that you can’t put a nation to wall because of its misbegotten fellers.

My wife and I thank very much for all the help we got from your organisation and, if possible,I would like this email to reach Mr.’s Bird eyes and for him to know that what he does is well appreciated and we wish him a long life.