The sun hasn't even risen yet, but he's already up. He puts away his mat and starts to organize his sale items. Soon, the first customers may arrive! The man greets all passers-by with a genuine “good morning” smile.
Initially, a common routine for those who work in sales, except for one important detail: it is a homeless person who sells books to survive on the streets of Rio de Janeiro.
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This is the day-to-day Jose Marcos D'Souza. At the age of 55, he makes the sidewalk of a street in Praia do Flamengo, where he has lived for three years, the showcase to expose his livelihood. The books are all donated and, like any good seller, he ended up being known by the whole neighborhood.
Popularity that helps you receive not only books, but also clothes, shoes and food. But life as a homeless person is never easy and José faces
the hostility of some people who live there.
Intolerance has already reached the point of making him be hit by eggs thrown by tenants of a building. Persecution also comes from municipal authorities called to remove it from its point of sale.
José's story was told in an article published by the BBC. To the report, he vents. “Living on the street is bitter. You have to listen to a lot of insults without being able to react, without being able to defend yourself”.
But José Marcos is Brazilian and never gives up! To mistreatment, he responds with sympathy and poetry. A fan of Carlos Drummond de Andrade, the man who completed Elementary School records his own lyrical writings in a notebook that he keeps in his suitcase.
José Marcos' life was not always like this. Before, he lived with his sister in the city of Niterói. However, things changed when, after a family disagreement, he decided to leave home.
From then on, he lived on temporary jobs. He collects experiences as a caretaker, replenisher of goods in supermarkets, clerk and waiter.
The stigma of addicts and criminals that homeless people carry, José Marcos makes a point of demystifying. “Whoever is on the street is not a thief. Those who are on the street have needs.”
More than 3,700 people are part of José Marcos' reality. This is the number recorded by “Somos Todos Cariocas”, a survey carried out by the city of Rio in January of this year. In addition to those who live on the streets, another 913 are in shelters.
Souza has even spent time at the reception center located in the west zone, more precisely in the neighborhood of Jacarepaguá. However, he claims to have felt out of place and even questioned whether he was taking the vacancy away from those who really needed it. “I need a house, not a shelter,” he stresses.
José makes his living selling books, right? But what do you do with all the money left over? Deposit into a bank account! Thus, he hopes to fulfill his dream of buying a house in Governador Valadares, his parents' hometown in the interior of Minas Gerais.
To those who promote the invisibility of homeless people, José Marcos, the book seller at Praia do Flamengo, leaves a message. “I would like people to see me as a human being (…) who is trying to make it in life. What would be the best way for me to win? Is it stealing, killing people? The right thing, for me to win, is to sell my books. It's the only way.
