Twitch is known to be the preferred network for gamers and video game enthusiasts, but in Spain one of the most talked about users has nothing to do with consoles. His name is Jony, he is 41 years old and he tells about his homeless daily life in the city center of the capital, Madrid, with his dog Duna. He opened his channel last April, and seven months later has 37,000 subscribers. This week, he took his suitcases, left his sidewalk square in the Plaza de las Cortes in Madrid to settle in an apartment. A studio with a six-month lease, in which he shot his first live in tears, supported by a shower of little hearts and thumbs up sent by his subscribers.
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♬ original sonido – viviendoenlacalle
Jony has come a long way, he tells it in a number of newspapers, Huffington Post To La Vanguardia. He grew up with two drug addicted parents, took to cannabis at 13, cocaine at 16, then his trafficking took him to prison, he got out, he finally found a job, before losing it. in 2014, to no longer be able to pay his rent, to be kicked out by his owner, and to find himself in the street, with his suitcase and his phone. A phone, in fact, which will quickly become its key to not losing footing.
First, he contacted the volunteers of the Red Cross, who offered him to undergo therapy to get out of addiction. Then he signs up on Instagram, TikTok and therefore Twitch, where he decides to create his channel, to film himself and to tell about his daily life: how to find a place to sleep, to be safe or to eat hot.
As the days go by, subscribers pour in. After two weeks, he passed the 10,000 mark and the platform began to pay him. The first time, Jony received 400 euros, today his direct reports bring him a little more than 1000 euros per month. Added to the donations of the anonymous people who follow him, all this allowed him to buy a headset, recover a laptop, a folding table, and then find a studio in Madrid where he continues to make videos, even if his wish, he says daily ABC, “it is now to go to colleges, high schools, to educate young people“, tell them not to judge too quickly, and”to testify to what it is to fall into drugs, to loneliness, to the street, and above all to show that one can recover from them“.