There is a fine line between commodifying poverty and making differences that positively impact perceptions.
Unseen Tours uses tourism to challenge perceptions about homelessness.
Though their ethical tourism programme, Unseen Tours has created livelihoods for people who have experienced homelessness.
We sat down with Jayni Gudka @jaynigudka CEO of Unseen Tours on the award-winning tours of Soho, London Bridge, Brick Lane and Convent Garden delivered by guides who have experienced homelessness.
Jayni, can you tell me what Unseen Tours is about?
Unseen Tours @unseentours provides meaningful work opportunities for people who have experienced homelessness or other forms of marginalisation. The guided tours are a way for our colleagues to tell their stories and create dialogue around the issues that they care about to our guests who want to see a familiar city in a new way.
I know you’ve been associated with Unseen Tours for a while now – how did this all begin?
We started off with a group of volunteers called The Sockmob who’d go out on London’s streets with coffee, tea and pairs of socks just to speak to people who were sleeping rough – and through our engagement we came to the realisation that some were experts of their local area and knew of stories and histories that few could ever discover. It kind of started off as an experiment on whether their expertise was another way to see the city. That was 11 years ago, and as you can see, it’s been successful.
Your organisation speaks in its mission about a ‘Theory of Change’. What are you working toward?
We believe that there is so much that the tourism and event industry can gain by including marginalised voices in the experiences they offer. Our theory-of-change is to provide work opportunity to people who have traditionally been excluded from the tourism sector – because this lack of diversity has diminished the authenticity of what a visitor experiences in a city like London.
And I really want to make this point: Unseen Tours is not about poverty tourism. Our existence is not aligned to tourists peering in at or judging the homeless. We offer a valuable tour experience with meaningful authority that may alter attitudes and indifference. Changing the stereotype is important. That’s real change. That’s making a difference.
Do you think that having a home, or at least somewhere safe to sleep, is a human right?
Simple answer: yes! Of course, some people for various reasons may choose to be homeless, so its important to note that we don’t enforce any choices onto them. Our work is focused on offering people a route out of and preventing homelessness, not a mandate that takes people’s options away.
The Vagrancy Act states that it is illegal to sleep on the streets. This law was written in 1824. Your thoughts?
Clearly change is needed and overdue. Laws that are nearly 200 years old do not service citizens and communities, and our support of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ending Homelessness coincides with news that Westminster will repeal this law that criminalised homelessness. This is a massive step forward after decades of campaigning by many different organisations.
What struck me from your LinkedIn profile was the notion that engagement ‘starts with a conversation and ends with a journey’. Can you tell me what inspired that?
From my experience, homeless people are often invisible. It’s almost dehumanising if you’re sleeping rough and no one will engage you in the simple act of a conversation. Think of your own actions: do you stop to see how someone on the street is doing or afford a smile and a quick word even when you frequently pass them in your daily routine?
We’ve got to change this power dynamic and that’s what Unseen Tours is achieving. By showing our guests a different side to London, we own the opening of a narrative and create space for dialogues bigger than the sum of the guided tour.
All images ©2022, Unseen Tours
