David Popa, Tesco, Aston Lane, Birmingham
David speaks Romanian and Spanish, and is using his pitch to brush up on his English
Image: Joshua Mclean
I started selling Big Issue last year. My first day was on 6 February. I’m from Romania but I spent some of my childhood in Spain, so I’m fluent in Romanian and Spanish. When I came to the UK, I did not have work, so my friend helped me register with Big Issue. He told me that it is very good to sell the magazine.
Sometimes it is good on my pitch. Of course, there are other times when it’s not so good. I like it because it means I get to learn and improve my English. It helps me make some money and I also have made friends here through selling Big Issue.
The Big Issue team helped me find a good spot to sell the magazine, outside the Tesco superstore in Aston. They helped me get English classes, and they’ve helped me with everything I need.
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I’m doing this for my family and girlfriend. I help my family with what I can, with the money I make from selling Big Issue. I give them some money as well.
With the cost of living going up, I don’t know how I’ve coped, to be honest. God has helped me. I don’t know where I would be if I wasn’t selling the magazine. I suppose I have never thought of it.
I’m living with my father’s brother – my uncle – right now. But in the future, I want to be able to work and make a family with my future wife and build a better future. I want to stay here in England because I love it here. England has helped me with so many things, and some of my family are here. Some of them came to visit me recently because they were in Spain.
When I’m not selling the Big Issue magazine, I really like to play football. I play it over the weekend as much as I can with my cousins and my friends. If I could speak to myself as a kid, I would tell him to fight for his dreams. And I want to keep fighting for my dreams now. Big Issue has helped me. They have given me the password to a better future and they gave me a reason to move forward because I did not have a job and I didn’t have anything stable before this.
Interview: Isabella McRae
Tesco Superstore, Aston Lane, Aston, Birmingham, UK
