There has been some war going on someplace in the world for
years and years now. The war did not have
to be where I live. No war is killing
people every day. People are starving,
and dyeing right now because of war.
I see people struggling to sponsor refugees, to find some
way to give these people a better life.
One person pointed out the cost to sponsor one adult refugee, $12,600 a
year; it was about the same amount as two people on welfare (Ontario works)
receive. The amount to sponsor two adult
refugees, $21,200 is around what my family of five lives on, with my husband
working full time. To sponsor a family
of 4 it would cost $27,000. We have many
families here already living on less that.
It was also pointed out that any refugees would probably end
up living in bug infested homes, because that was what they could afford. Guess what, way too many families currently
live in bug infested homes, ants, cockroaches and bed bugs to name a few. Bed bugs alone are epidemic here, and you don’t
have to be poor to be one of the people living in those conditions.
There are too many families homeless, trying to live in
shelters, little baby’s to seniors and everything in between. There are people living on the streets right
now, in our city. There are people going
through garbage looking for food, right now.
There are people going without the medication or medical help they need
here in my country right now because of cut backs and things not being covered
anymore.
People working, with homes are struggling to feed their
families. Many of us have to make real changes. Meat is becoming so expensive that people
just cannot afford it. Meat is one of
the things that people have to cut back, reduce portions or simply skip completely. Vegetables and fruits are starting to get
expensive as well. Actually everything
is becoming far more expensive.
There are a lot of changes, unexpected changes that cannot
be ignored. People are going back to an
older way to live, growing food, canning and even hunting. One of the things that stood out was the fact
that people are going back to eating things that most of us don’t see as
food. For example, squirrels. I am part of a BBQ group and one person was
so happy because they were able to get a bunch of squirrels and wanted to know
how to cook them. They showed the
squirrels skinned and prepped for cooking.
What was surprising was the number of people with recipes, advice on how
to cook them or even pictures of the squirrels they cooked. One man showed two squirrels cooked and ready
to eat, and was unhappy because he had only been able to get two for that
meal. This was not a random thing, this
was a food source for people. They are
going for the smaller animals, squirrels, rabbits, and well whatever they can
get. There was no embarrassment, or
shame in this, it was more pride because they could feed their family. More and more people are out hunting/trapping
what they can. People were talking about
if it was okay to eat city pigeons verses farm raised pigeons. This
is not in a war torn or third world country, but one of the biggest countries,
one that is considered wealthy by most. Yet
our food banks cannot keep up with the demand.
We have people going hungry every single day, real hunger as in that piece
of bread is their food for the day.
Schools have started snack programs because too many kids don’t have
food to eat. (We don’t have lunch
programs here)
People are looking
into growing what they can in their back yards, balconies and inside their
homes. Any space that can be used to
grow something to feed your family is going to be used. Even if it is just herbs it helps. We just ordered seeds for things we can grow
in our home over the winter. We are
putting plastic shelves in our windows so that the plants can get the light
they need. We live in a small townhouse with very little space, and no real “growing
area”. Our neighbours did not plant
flowers this year in the little tiny spot we have to grow stuff. No it was food, tomatoes, lettuce, mint,
peppers, etc. We even planted blueberry
bushes in our little spot. On a side
note several of the neighbours had the food disappear overnight from the front
garden spot, because people are hungry.
Many people have turned their little cemented back patio into little
gardens using flower pots because we are not allowed to put anything on the
fence. Last year we were supposed to get
a community garden in our complex, like many of the other complexes but somehow
that was stopped. There are community gardens
showing up all over the place and I am going to have to buy a spot in one of
them in the spring seeing as our community garden was stopped.
Old fashioned skills are coming back again. People are canning again. Yes canning.
Getting foods as cheap as possible and then canning it so that they will
have it later. It is not just farmers
anymore. I started canning food a couple
years ago. It has made a huge difference
on me being able to feed my family and I am not the only one in my area to
start. More and more people buying
canning equipment and learning every day.
Stores that never carried canning equipment suddenly have entire
sections dedicated to canning. Canning
groups are becoming bigger and bigger every day.
I can no longer turn my head away and try to convince myself
that everything is okay. Not when sponsoring
a refugee takes more money then what people here are already living with. Not when the conditions that many families
live with here are considered unacceptable for a refugee. How can we be trying to help out refugees
when we cannot even help out the people already living here? I have to admit I was upset to find out how
much money my Government is donating to help out refugees, but children, adults
and seniors are living in worse conditions here than what is considered
acceptable for a refugee to live under. Please
note that I am not saying that the refugees don’t need help, or that they
should not get help. They do need
help. However, I am saying that there
are people right here in my country that also need help and they are not
getting it. Why is it okay for many
regular citizens of my country to live in conditions not acceptable for a
refugee to live in?
