I exited Edinburgh’s Waverley Railway Station to the sound of bagpipes emanating from a corner of Princes Street Gardens opposite. It is a prime busking spot, with tourists milling around waiting to take a city tour on one of the several open-topped buses parked along the edge of the road. A bus tour, albeit a form a guided tourism, is nonetheless a good and unique way to get a quick overview of a city.

Being early for a meeting with Zakia Moulaoui Guery, the founder of Invisible Cities, I opted for a leisurely stroll via some of the back alleys and the old stone staircases that ascend the steep slope into Edinburgh’s Old Town to connect with the Royal Mile. From there it was a short walk along the cobbled road past St Giles Cathedral and on to the historic Grassmarket. Passing through the alleyways, I encountered the occasional beggar and the remnants of cardboard boxes that had been someone’s bed for the night, the torn edges still frosted in the shade. On the main thoroughfares I saw groups of tourists being led by guides or huddled around some point of interest. Within a few hundred yards I had witnessed two very different sides of the same city.

I met Guery in the cafe at The Grassmarket Community Project and, over coffee, she explained that what I had just witnessed was typical of many modern cities, “The homeless and the socially disadvantaged feel unwelcome and unwanted and will often hide in doorways and back alleys while the tourist industry tries to keep visitors from seeing what it regards as the less attractive side of the city.”

That, she explains, was her motivation to create Invisible Cities. The concept is simple: homeless people are trained to be tour guides, acquiring greater self-worth and sense of belonging, while at the same time offering the discerning visitor an insight into parts of the city connected with the guide’s own life story – perhaps a more authentic, and less sanitised tourism experience.

Invisible Cities doesn’t just embolden homeless people, it also seeks to encourage others – such as corporate clients, students and local businesses – to engage with the disadvantaged in society; it is a two-way process.

Intrigued about Guery’s background and how the model for Invisible Cities evolved, I ask her how she came up with the idea. Reclining into a comfortable sofa with latte in hand she explains, “I was born in the south of France to a French mother and an Algerian father. As a youngster my mixed-race heritage made no difference at school or to the friends that I grew up with but as I got older, I became aware of prejudices creeping in. My father had come to France at a time when the government actively sought workers from the people in the nation it had colonized. That changed when Algeria gained its independence in 1962 but by then my parents were settled in Saint-Etienne.”

Both parents have now passed away, but she recalls with great fondness how her mother became a social activist and, in the absence of formal support systems for isolated women, it was her mother who regularly invited random women to stay in the family home. “I just thought my mum had lots of friends,” she laughs.

Having grown up speaking both English and French, Guery became a language teacher in France before applying for a placement through the British Council that saw her land a job at Edinburgh’s prestigious George Heriot’s School. After eighteen months, she realized that while she enjoyed preparing lessons, teaching wasn’t the career for her. She left, taking a series of jobs in bars and restaurants before applying for an office job with the Homeless World Cup Foundation using her language skills. The organization encourages participating countries to identify homeless people with an interest in football and then select a pool of players to represent their home country on an international level. I can tell by her body language and the intonation in her voice that that post was a turning point.

“I stayed with them over five years. I was appointed Director of International Partner Development and was responsible for organizing and promoting events worldwide. I learned the power of street football and how team spirit and purpose can change lives.”

The job saw her travel to European tournaments but also further afield to Mexico and Chile. The 2024 Netflix movie, The Beautiful Game, starring Bill Nighy and Micheal Ward was inspired by the true story of the Homeless World Cup.

Sadly, while in Chile in 2014 Guery took seriously ill. At twenty-seven years of age she was diagnosed with cancer and required major surgery. Unable to travel for a year she spent time thinking about how she could make a difference to the lives of people in need. In 2015, she travelled to Greece, volunteering to help the tens of thousands of refugees displaced by war and economic crises across the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, who began arriving by boat on the island of Lesbos.

“It was gruelling and harrowing, however it only strengthened my resolve to make a difference.”

In Athens, she made friends with the people running Shedia – Greece’s magazine about homelessness. The magazine had emerged on the back of Greece’s participation in the Homeless World Cup. Inspired by Shedia’s promotion of education, training, and employment opportunities, Guery returned to Scotland and took her evolving ideas to the Good Ideas Academy – a body funded by the Scottish Government to support ideas for social innovation. After four months of learning, Invisible Cities was launched in 2016 in Edinburgh. Part of the program at the academy involved the exploration of funding options, and with Guery’s track record and enthusiasm several local business and enterprises agreed to fund the project.

Using homeless agencies to identify suitable candidates, potential tour guides are selected and given extensive training that can last up to a year. They are taught communication and timekeeping skills and, as they are paid for the work they do, financial help to manage their earnings. Individuals are encouraged to develop their own specific angle for a tour drawing on their personal life experiences or interests, all the while being supported in all aspects of their development by trained professionals including healthcare workers. All tour guides learn the basic history of certain places but may take clients to less well-known areas, sharing their own journeys that may have involved crime or alcohol and drug abuse. One guide, Sonny opens up about his journey through crime and prison while another, Gayle – with a background of domestic abuse – focuses on the women of Edinburgh, pointing out that there are more statues to named animals in the city than to named women. A typical tour comprises four to six individuals and lasts no more than two hours. Like the football teams of the Homeless World Cup, individuals gain strength from the camaraderie and team spirit of the organization and from each other. For many, it will be the first time they have had a job, have felt valued, or feel like they have been given a purpose in life. With tours promoted through accommodation providers, Edinburgh University, and various businesses and other social enterprises, Invisible Cities has proven to be so successful that it has now been rolled out in Glasgow, Manchester, York, and Cardiff, with other cities in the pipeline.

Although the founding of Invisible Cities has involved a long journey embodying ideas and experiences gained from her travels across the globe Guery is quick to point it that it all has it roots in Saint Etienne, “It was watching my mum help so many struggling people through difficult times that instilled in me the desire to help others.” ~ Story by Tom Langlands.

www.invisible-cities.org
www.tomlanglandsphotography.com
(All photographs supplied by Invisible Cities)