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).
The library
The QML is a white van sporting the logo of its parent organisation, Quaker Homeless Action (QHA). It has been operating in London since 1999 (this is the third van), taking books to the homeless. The inside has been lined with fitted shelves, neatly labelled by genre or language. There is room for four or five people to browse the shelves at the same time in relative space and comfort.
Several things make the QML special and underline QHA’s knowledge of the chaos and challenges faced by the homeless. Borrowers – or ‘readers’, as they are known to QML – are not charged for late or unreturned books. They can borrow books even when it is unlikely that they will be able to return them.
Each reader is issued with a QML reader card bearing their name (or alias) and the stop at which they meet up with the library. Cards are replaced for free. They can also be left in the care of the QML, should their owner be concerned about loss or theft.
In London, in addition to the Manna Centre, the QML stops at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, St Giles-in-the-Fields, The American Church and the Passage, a day centre in Victoria. Library stops are timed to tie in with soup or food runs provided by other organisations, such as the Hare Krishna or homelessness charity The Simon Community. Piggybacking on other services increases the likelihood of readers attending the library.
A Brighton ‘branch’ was set up last year. Rather than a van, it uses suitcases with built-in shelves. This makes it easier for volunteers to access the town’s narrow streets and lanes, where rough sleepers are most likely to be found.
The books
Initially, the bulk of the books were donated by publishers. Recently, there has been an increase in donations from members of the public who have seen the library in action.
According to QHA’s 2013 project report for the QML, the most popular genre among London readers was crime and horror. Science fiction came next, followed by biography. Books on music proved least popular.
Brighton readers are also fans of crime novels. Surprisingly, perhaps, the second most frequently borrowed category there was drama, followed by graphic novels. Youth titles were the least popular, faring marginally better than science fiction. Among the novels borrowed in Brighton were Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams, The Shipping News by Annie Proulx, and Spotkania Z Polakami by Olgierd Budrewicz, a Polish writer and survivor of the Warsaw uprising.
The Brighton QML stocks the Polish-language magazine Polski, while the London van has books in a number of languages, including French, German, Polish and Serbo-Croat.
The London readers
The first reader I speak to is Philip. He’s an affable Londoner. While he has accommodation at the moment, he has a history of sleeping rough. He says he will go ‘to any library as long as it’s got good books’. Philip likes real-life stories and books about fixing bikes and cars.
‘I have my own bike, so books like that come in handy’, he tells me. Philip declines to borrow a book this time, insisting that he has several waiting for him at home. I suspect he has come to the QML to avail of its ‘other’ service – a good chat.
Maggie is from Scotland. She’s staying with her partner these days, but admits that, usually, she sleeps ‘here, there and everywhere’. Her taste in books is eclectic, ranging from war to crime via romance. Maggie is a fan of Val McDermid, the Scottish crime writer.
‘Reading just passes the time,’ she tells me. Maggie is cheerful and engaging. We first meet as I retrieve a stray ping pong ball she has been trying to throw into a friend’s cup of tea.
Krissy is Scottish, too, from Moray. She has lived in London for a long time.
‘I sleep outside but I’m discreet about it, because rough sleeping is banned in some London boroughs,’ she explains.
Krissy likes Tom Clancy’s writing, particularly when there is a technological element to the story. When it comes to books and authors, she is clear about her likes and dislikes.
‘I also like Jean Plaidy’s historical romances, although she had a tendency to “run on the mumble”. She’s not afraid to put in her own opinion.’
‘I don’t like detective stories, although they’re a great cure for insomnia,’ she adds with a cackle.
Krissy doesn’t borrow a book on this occasion, but she takes a seat outside the van and embarks on a long, informed and wide-ranging conversation with QML volunteer Noel Rice. They discuss everything from London’s traditional Jewish areas to the respective merits of Irish and Scottish whiskeys.
Ibitenye has less to say. He tells me that he’s not homeless and that he comes ‘from above’. He likes educational books and seems slightly startled to find that he’s reading a book of rugby anecdotes.
The last reader I speak to is David. He’s originally from New Zealand, and is a soft-spoken, intelligent man with a noticeable shake to his hands. He likes biographies and regrets not having borrowed the book on Katherine Mansfield he spotted on the van a couple of weeks ago.
‘I like reading. Writers can say things that no one else says. Things that you can’t say in conversation,’ David explains.
As we speak, David is flicking through a copy of Kitchen Confidential by chef Anthony Bourdain. I suggest he borrows it, but he feels there would be no point, as he is unlikely to visit restaurants.
David wants to know about Quakerism. Volunteer Brian Parker hands him a couple of leaflets and the two men talk for a time.
Why the QML is important
‘The Quaker Mobile Library is a wonderful way to reach out to people who are going through a very rough patch in their lives. Our London and Brighton libraries are much needed services and we hope Friends in other parts of the country might be interested in starting a library in their area, too,’ says Kate Mellor, executive director of Quaker Homeless Action.
Homeless people tend to be stereotyped by the wider public. Thanks in large part to the media, they are lumped into an amorphous mass of need. They are rarely seen as individuals, let alone intelligent individuals with thoughts and opinions.
QML volunteers know better than to make assumptions about the homeless.
Every second Monday volunteer driver Simon Bream arrives at the Manna Centre, parks the van and props its sliding door open. A card table and two chairs are set up beside it and volunteers chat to readers while keeping a record of books borrowed. When I visit, the atmosphere is genial and relaxed. Readers are welcomed and chatted to as if this were any ‘normal’ social occasion. It is moving to see the appreciation of a young reader in particular. He is so grateful to have been lent a book that it is evident that something has gone badly wrong for him.
Food, warmth and shelter are obvious priorities for those experiencing homelessness, but it’s often forgotten that they may be dealing with boredom and isolation, too. QML goes some way towards alleviating this, whether by providing books or giving rough sleepers and hostel dwellers an excuse to speak on equal terms with someone from beyond the world of homelessness.
Before I leave, I ask Manna Centre administrator Paddy Boyle how reading helps homeless people. He tells me that it entertains them and helps them fill their day. Then he stops, looks at me and asks: ‘Why wouldn’t homeless people be entitled to the same privileges as the rest of us?’ That, for me, says it all.
Tara is the journalist for the Friend.
A Quaker Mobile Library will open in Leeds in 2015.
You need to login to read subscriber-only content and/or comment on articles.