Women’s Month: Breaking bread with the homeless

DURBAN resident and publicist, Illa Thompson is working to uplift Durban’s homeless through a Denis Hurley Centre project that offers men and women an opportunity to sell books on the street. Book vendors have been able to transform their lives by selling high quality second-hand books and sharing their love of literature on the street through the aptly named, Street Lit project.

A publicist for Durban’s theatre scene, Thompson quickly adapted to her new role as Street Lit coordinator after the Covid-19 pandemic prevented theatre performances and most gatherings. Speaking to the Berea Mail, Thompson shares her journey from spotlight to Street Lit.

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She said the Street Lit project, which started three years ago at the Denis Hurley Centre, is now an award-winning entrepreneurship project.

“It was the KZN finalist in the SAB Social Innovation and Disability Empowerment Awards 2019. A team of trained, rehabilitated homeless and formerly homeless people earn a modest income from selling donated books. Currently we have 10 people on our team. The vendors buy the books from the project at R2 a book and then sell them to the public. They decide what they can sell them for. They keep 100% of the profits. We have managed to keep all of our team off the streets and in shelters – and in some cases even in rented rooms – over lockdown through this project,” explained Thompson.

She has long been involved with the Denis Hurley Centre.

“I’ve been working as a pro bono publicist for the Denis Hurley Centre long before the first sod was turned and the first brick was laid. It’s something that was always very close to my heart. Over lockdown, I was going through quite a dark patch as all of us in the arts, who are self employed inevitably did. I wanted to disappear and open a little book shop and just be with books,” said Thompson.

That’s when she took on the challenge of setting up a library for the Street Lit project.

“Over lockdown we sorted out all these boxes of generously donated books into a functioning book store. Weirdly, from being this flamboyant theatre publicist, my bubble became a group of homeless men. For lunch we would share a loaf of bread and peanut butter and we’d get excited about a cup of sweet tea.

“All of a sudden my life had completely shifted. Nothing could be less glamorous than this world, but it was just beautiful to get to know the team of Street Lit vendors. They are astonishing. We have conversations around which books to keep. We keep all the classics even if they don’t sell. They can quote Shakespeare and Dickens. They read most of the books here,” she said.

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“It’s taught me not to judge people. So often you see a homeless man and you pigeonhole them, but if you take the time to sit down and get to know them and you realise a lot of the homeless don’t have data or TV – they stay in a shelter. What do you do at 18:00 when it gets dark- you pick up a book and read. That’s something I hadn’t thought about. Most of the men I work with are avid readers, one or two of them are probably the best read people in Durban and they are homeless,” added Thompson.

Her love for theatre began when she worked part time as an usher at The Playhouse eventually moving from her day job as a newspaper feature writer to working at The Playhouse full time. For the past 30 years she has run the PR business Publicity Matters initially with friend and colleague Sharlene Versfeld, and subsequently with her sister Sophie, winning several awards along the way.

Thompson now juggles her time equally between publicity and books.