Street roots., April 29, 2011, Page 10, Image 10

Street roots
10
April 29, 2011
Former prostitute turned shop owner challenges perceptions
BY ELECIA CHRUNIK
STREET NEW S SERVICE
VANCOUVER, B.C - Amanda Bonella
used to be a prostitute in Vancouver,
Canada. After leaving the trade, she decided
to open an ice-cream parlor, using the
principles of minimal harm by using local,
organic ingredients, chemical-free cleaning
products and biodegradable packaging. Her
ethics go beyond food, however. Bonella
only employs former colleagues from the
sex trade.
The day we’ve met Amanda Bonella
wasn’t her best day, but it certainly wasn’t
her worst, either, considering the obstacles
she’s had to overcome. Bonella is the owner
of Yogiberry, a nook of an ice cream parlor
turned soup and sandwich shop in
Vancouver. The day before this interview
someone robbed her and stole her rent
money while she was locking up shop.
It’s really her charm, the way she engages
with her customers and carefully chops each
vegetable on a custom order gluten-free
homemade pizza that has people coming
back to enjoy her “delish meets nutrish”
food.
Yogiberry is located in a cheerful spot of
the Downtown Eastside, in Vancouver, with
bright pink walls and iridescent glass tile
countertops. But it’s not the easiest location
from which to run a business. Bonella is, g.
constantly cleaning the entrance outside,
sweeping it of needles, garbage and
whatever other trash had been left behind
while the store was closed.
But she’s a long-time resident of the area
and doesn’t want to be anywhere else. The
topic of gentrification comes up in
conversation and her perspective is as
refreshing as her real fruit smoothies. “I
don’t want the neighbourhood to change, I
love this neighbourhood and how colourful it
is,” she says.
~
At th e sam e time, though, shejjggls th at
the residents have to step up their level of
respect for the businesses as much as the
businesses are demanded to consider the
needs of the people who were living there
first “I don’t like this divide, but I don’t like
it from either side. Everyone has to accept
responsibility for the conditions down here.”
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P H O TO BY M A T T H E W ZYLSTRA S A W A T Z K Y
Amanda Bonella at her shop, Yogiberry, in Vancouver, B.C.
It’s a meaningful sentiment coming from
her. She’s, open about her life, about the fact
that she was raised in foster homes, some of
which " were W>«sive; and
...
through PEERS (Prostitutes Empowerment
Education Resource Society) in Victoria, a
group of former sex trade workers dedicated
......
recruited into the sex trade when she was a
young teenager. She avoided drugs so never
had to deal with that barrier when she
decided to exit the trade in her early
twenties after a particularly frightening date.
She also had her daughter to Consider by
then.
Bonella found the support she needed
eventually opened Vancouver’s PEERS
chapter and got involved with public
education. She also started a general
contracting company which she’s still
involved with and whose members built the
inside of her cheerful shop.
After working as support for people in the
sex trade, the emotional challenge started to
Shawn B y tell, 28,
sells papers on the
street for a living.
Bytell is recently
homeless and has
been working for
Street Roots for
the last five
months.
P HO TO BY
S A M A N T H A M G C À R TY
take its toll. “I had to leave because it burnt
me o u t It’s emotional on a whole other level
because I come from that life and it’s very
triggering,” she says.
Since opening last October, Bonella has
endeavoured to employ someone either
involved in the sex trade, as she once was,
or trying to leave i t
And as she treats her employees without
judgment, she does the same with her
customers, a necessity in this
neighbourhood. The products she serves are
not only of high quality, but affordable, too.
“You’ll have a lawyer and a drug user and a
drug dealer in the same lineup, not really
knowing how to interact... and it’s really
funny,” she says.
While having an inclusive business
philosophy might produce some mildly
amusing situations, it also has its costs.
Because Bonella treats everyone equally as
customers, she is more susceptible to the
unpredictable behaviors that the drug trade-
unleashes like theft and vandalism. She
acknowledges that not everyone feels
comfortable sharing space with people who
are on drugs or who make a living pushing
drugs.
Sudah Williams works at Yogiberry part-
time. “What you have to keep in mind here
is that a customer is a custottier regardless
of what they do outside of here,” Williams
says. “We have to keep that in mind so that
we don’t fall into treating them a certain
way because of what they do.”
And of her boss? “She’s a great boss. If
you need anything she’s always here to help
with anything at all,” Williams says.
Having taught herself how to design
websites, Bonella will still take op the
occasional contract to make sure that her
bills are covered-the-winter months have
been slow for a shop that began selling ice
though,.Sheis got _
a knack for rolling with the punches.
“I’m not someone who resists change,” &
she says. “I want to be a part of the change,
especially when it’s for the better.”
Originally published by Megaphone ©www.
streetnewsservice. org, www.streetnewsservice.
org / Megaphone (Canada)
BY SAMANTHA MCCARTY
C O N TR IB UTIN G W RITER
am a junior at Linfield College pursuing a
degree in mass communication and possibly a
career in photojournalism. Last fall I took a
photojournalism class in which I was assigned to
complete a photo story. I discovered Street Roots
when I was looking for fresh ideas in Portland
newspapers to start my project. I was first
interested because I thought the paper on its
own was a great story. People getting a chance to
have jobs and better their lives that might not
have those opportunities without an outlet like
Street Roots. I knew I would meet lots of people
with tales to tell. I just had to figure out how to
capture that on camera.
I met Shawn early on a Saturday afternoon. He
was standing outside Pastinis on the corner of
SW Taylor Street and Ninth Avenue. Shawn
normally sells in front of Art Media, the next
comer down, but he said that this comer had
more traffic during the lunch rush sometimes.
I worked with several different Street Roots
vendors before I was partnered with Shawn,
whom I used to complete my story. I learned
something new with every vendor I worked with
and enjoyed hearing all of their stories, In the
end I choose to use Bytell for my project because
he was in an obvious transition phase in his life.
I would like to thank Bytell and all of the staff
at Street Roots, with a special thanks to Street
Roots Vendor Coordinator Becky Mullins, for
allowing me this opportunity and helping me to
complete one of my most meaningful projects in
my college career.
If you would like to see my whole story they
are posted online at: https://picasaweb.google.
com/sammccartyl5/PhotoStory#
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