Epic Eric: how books took him from the streets to success

BOOKS change lives and no one knows this more than Eric Badise, whose perseverance took him from homelessness to teaching history at a Holocaust centre.

As a teenager in Johannesburg, he dreamed of becoming a football star, even trying out with Kaizer Chiefs, Sundowns and Orlando Pirates. But it wasn’t meant to be.

In 2015, Badise visited a friend in Durban and fell in love with the city. Two years ago, the friend told him about a "promising" job opportunity, and he jumped at the chance to relocate.

The job never materialised, and within a week, Badise was living on the streets.

“I was mostly in West Street or The Workshop, where you would find a lot of homeless people sleeping in the park or under the bridge,” he said.  “My biggest worry was that I didn’t want to get sick, mugged or killed by other homeless guys.”

He heard about a shelter that charged R40 a night and offered a bed and a shower. But he had no money. Badise turned to cleaning taxis, something he’d done during school holidays. “I had to find a unique way of cleaning taxis because there were many doing the same thing,” he said. Not only did he wash the outside - he also cleaned and sanitised the interior, which no one else was doing.

“My target was to clean two taxis per day so that I could get 40 bucks to go and sleep in this shelter. With the remaining R10 I wanted to buy bread and Drink-o-Pop. I mixed it with [water] from a public toilet.”

Long days meant he often returned after 8pm - too late for the shelter, and he’d be kicked out. Eventually, he found a more affordable shelter that offered both a bed and food for R20 a night.

This is where his life began to change.

Some of the men there introduced him to the Denis Hurley Centre Street Lit programme. He jumped at the opportunity. “The aim of the project is not for homeless guys to sell books and get money, it’s to turn homeless guys into book readers. Because that will affect them, change their mindset. Because if anyone can sell books and make money, then what? If he's on drugs or into alcohol, he will have more money to buy more alcohol. Hence, we have our weekly meeting where we discuss such things.”

They gathered at the Denis Hurley Centre, holding sessions on saving, opening bank accounts, and making responsible choices. “We teach each other about the power of saving - those small financial decisions where you have to discipline yourself to change your life.”

Eventually, after another period of being without shelter, Badise  moved his bookstall to the Botanic Gardens. “The books that I sold in the CBD were not working in the Botanic Gardens. There’s a different kind of market there, and you can’t survive only by selling donated books,” he said.

So he adapted, learning how to buy and resell books, sometimes pooling money with other sellers to purchase boxes. It paid off. Life improved, and Badise was eventually able to rent a flat in the CBD. “Oh, it’s difficult. Even though the challenge is there, I always made the R5 000,” he said.

Later, Illa Thompson, who runs the Street Lit programme, invited the booksellers to visit the Durban Holocaust & Genocide Centre. Badise was deeply moved.

An avid reader, he had already learned about the Holocaust and wanted to know more. Impressed by his passion, the Centre offered him a volunteer role - and a few months later, made him a full-time history educator.

He says the Centre invests in its people, and this year he had the opportunity to travel to Poland to learn more. “It was the most amazing time of my life,” he said. “The main thing is for you to go and deepen your knowledge and connect to the place itself, so that when you come back, you teach it from a place of authenticity.”

Despite his full-time job, he still runs his bookstall in the Botanic Gardens, where he now mentors newcomers, teaching them how to read the market and run a successful book business.

The Street Lit programme also led him to love. He met his wife while selling books in the CBD. When he moved to the Botanic Gardens, she visited him there too. They bonded over their shared love of reading. After four years of courtship, they married last year.

Mandela Month Book Drive

Independent Newspapers is once again supporting the Denis Hurley Centre’s Street Lit booksellers by collecting books for Mandela Month. We are calling on staff, readers, and supporters to donate quality, pre-loved books, especially bestsellers, great novels, children’s books, and self-help titles.

Books can be dropped off at the following locations throughout the month. Alternatively if you have a large consignment of books to deliver conttact Frank Chemaly on 083 2305629.

Central: Marketing Department, Independent Newspapers, Greyville; and St John Ambulance & Eye Care, 129 KE Masinga Rd (Mon/Wed/Fri, 8:30–11:00)

Berea: Musgrave Methodist Church – 237 Musgrave Rd (enter via St Thomas Rd, mornings only)

North: St Michael Church, Umhlanga – Ridge View Rd (mornings only)

Outer West: Décor Art, Botha’s Hill – with Angie in the décor shop downstairs