Food for the soul
Tara Craig visits the Quaker Mobile Library in London
Two hundred people, with varying degrees of patience, are waiting for lunch.
They range from teenagers to seventy-somethings, encompassing several nationalities. A number are clearly struggling with mental health or addiction problems. From time to time, a woman becomes agitated, screaming incoherently. No one pays her much attention – they are either used to her outbursts or trying to afford her some privacy. It is impossible to tell which.
This is the Manna Centre, near London Bridge Station, in early December. The day centre provides the homeless of London with a range of essentials: food, hot drinks, advice on jobs and benefits, even clothes.
On the day I visit, everyone is waiting for lunch, but some guests are also looking for sustenance of another kind. They are waiting for the Quaker Mobile Library (QML).
