Name Ken Hamilton
Age 37
Pitch Houghton Street, Liverpool city centre
I’m from Ireland originally – County Wicklow. I came to Liverpool three years ago. I’ve been selling The Big Issue in the North for two years, just to make money.
When I came to Liverpool I had nowhere to live – I was on the streets and I was a drug addict. It was horrible. There’s nothing more to say about it really. I was sleeping in car parks, sleeping rough.
The more used you get to selling the magazine, the more relaxed people are with you
Selling The Big Issue in the North is not as bad as people think. It’s all right. You get used to it and you don’t get that much abuse. Maybe one in a hundred will get snotty with you. The more used you get to selling it, the more relaxed people are with you. The more nervous you are, the more you attract bad attention.
I’m currently in a flat in Sefton Park. I’m not well enough to work because of my years being a drug addict. I’ve got a lot of illnesses. I’ve got hepatitis and leg ulcers – things like that. I have to have treatment three days a week.
Selling The Big Issue in the North helps you get by day to day. Gives you something to do, a reason to go out. I would like one day to be well enough to work again. I can’t sell the magazine eight hours a day because of my health, so I sell it for a couple of hours. And I have to go and see drug workers and do other courses.
I go on the walks run by The Big Issue in the North on a Wednesday. It’s better than sitting at home watching stupid TV. I didn’t know how to use a computer before, and now I have learnt through The BIg Issue in the North. It’s been positive for me.
I was homeless in Ireland for two years. I was sleeping rough in different places, squats, in Dublin. It’s a lot easier to get a hostel here. It’s just a different system. The support didn’t exist for me anyway.
Drugs became the routine. You go from day to day, week to week, month to month. And before you know it you get caught in a routine. It’s a choice someone makes.
Interview and photo: Helen Clifton
