Public interest and support for the Do the Math campaign has surpassed our wildest dreams. The Stop Community Food Centre have been contacted by hundreds of business, community and faith leaders in our neighbourhood and across the province, as well as students and professions who are moved by the issues and want to get involved.
If you or your organization is interested in replicating Do the Math as a way to begin addressing issues of hunger and poverty in your community, please contact “civicengagment – at – thestop.org”
If you or your organization would like to attend the Do the Math Wychwood Working Group meetings, or would like more information on the group, please contact “ash – at – thestop.org”
The Do the Math town hall meeting on Tuesday night was exciting. It was interesting to hear the other participants talk about their experience (remarkably similar to our own) but, for me, the really thrilling part was afterward when Nick asked the 300-strong crowd to divide up into breakout groups and come up with suggestions about how to move forward on this issue. Frankly, I was skeptical that it would work?I thought that after an hour of talk most people would run for the hills?but three quarters or more of the crowd stuck around and spent 15 minutes talking in groups of 10 about how to change the world. Or at least how to bring attention to the inadequacies of social assistance in Ontario. There were passionate retirees and articulate young people, people on social assistance and middle class types from the neighbourhood. They offered up ideas from creating community action groups to bringing social assistance recipients into classrooms to break down prejudice and preconceived notions about welfare to spreading the Do the Math campaign across the province. (There will be another, more hand?s-on meeting in 2 weeks to develop the ideas further?check this site for details.) The level of engagement and passion people brought to the issue was inspiring and made me feel very hopeful that change is possible. I?ve said it before, but it bears repeating, food connects us all. It is an incredible tool to bring people together and, when used for this purpose, to break down inequalities. Congratulations to the organizers for putting together such an excellent, well-thought-out campaign, and for creating such a hospitable space to engage with this important issue.
Thank you everyone who came out and packed barn 2 on Tuesday evening! It was exhilarating to be among all of you and to have these important conversations about how our communities are moving forward to fight poverty in Ontario.
Today?s breakfast was the last breakfast that we had following the exercise. We had practically no food left, except for a bit of oatmeal (enough for one person), and coffee for Rosalee and me. We thought of making flatbread again but felt that enough was enough (especially since the peanut butter ran out), and that we were close enough to lunch time, when we were breaking the diet. The feeling in the home was frankly one of jubilation. We are so happy for two reasons: first, we made it to the end abiding by the rules of the exercise. We were hungry throughout the week but persisted. My daughters were proud that they made it, and we were proud of them for their determination and ability to stick with it. Secondly, we were happy because we could almost taste the fruit and vegetables that we planning to eat for lunch. Rosalee bought a lot of fruit yesterday and the girls stuffed their bags with it today. I?ve lost 6 lbs, which is a good thing. At breakfast we talked about how sweet it was for us to enjoy the break, knowing though that for many this exercise is their life and they cannot get off the treadmill. There is a lot of thinking going on in my household on food, our family, who eats and doesn?t in our world, and social injustice. Our family will never look at the folk going into the drop-in for a meal the same again. This was a powerful exercise for us as a family, and frankly I am grateful that my daughters were a part of the challenge. It was a great learning experience for them, sensitizing them to the wider world and its inequalities. I for one want my children to be sensitized to pain of others in Toronto and not just its blessings. There are a whole host of insights and thoughts I have around doing this on a broader scale. There is nothing like the experience of hunger, of walking in other?s shoes, even for a short time, to clarify and discipline the mind around what is important in our city. I want to work with others to broaden the experience for other families. I do believe that when middle class families like ours take up the challenge, that it will help to build the political and social momentum necessary to better our governments? and society?s response. Lastly, we are grateful to The Stop for opening our eyes, and more importantly for being there. Community organizations that work for and with the poor in our community, that advocate on their behalf are heroes in this story. How they do it every day and not burn out or get mega-angry at governments and the pace of societal change is remarkable.
We made it to Sunday night, barely. Avi had nine meals of the stew. I had more trouble with its (lack of) edibility so moved onto a batch of hummus we made from the chickpeas. But we had the same problem as Anand: no tahini so it tasted like cement. And only a few carrots left to dip with.
What we kept finding is that it doesn't matter how good a cook you are, we didn't have the ingredients for a single recipe. By Friday I was really struggling to find foods I could eat with all my diet restrictions. I still had tomato sauce and tuna, so could make a pasta sauce -- but I didn't have any pasta because I had to turn down the wheat pasta at The Stop. So on Saturday I broke down and used a bag of my own brown rice pasta. Avi stuck with the stew. So the truth is I fell off before Sunday.
Avi just finished a mini-documentary for Al Jazeera English about the joblessness crisis in the U.S. and the theme of the piece is that, in an economy based on consumption (as opposed to manufacturing), not being able to consume makes you an exile in your own land (see http://tinyurl.com/ycvazgv) One thing I found about trying to stay on the diet is that I really didn't want to do much of anything out of the house, because I knew I'd get hungry and not be able to eat. So I opted to stay home much more than I usually do.
Yesterday I had a huge plate of green salad and it was kind of glorious. I appreciated it so much. I'm left feeling very grateful to The Stop community for allowing us to have this experience, which was both solitary and collective because we knew others were doing it as well, and we know that we are working towards a clear goal: social assistance levels that allow everyone in Ontario to live in health and dignity.
See you at the town hall tonight.
Join us at a community town hall this evening at Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St, just south of St. Clair at 7pm. Come hear the participants' experiences and strategize ways to continue to put pressure on the provincial government to address woefully inadequate social assistance rates. Light snacks and refreshments will be provided. We hope to see all of you there!
Map of the barns here http://bit.ly/bgdLYK If taking the TTC, you can take the 512 St. Clair streetcar to either Christie or Artscape Wychwood Barns stop. The 126 Northbound bus from Christie subway station will drop you off right in front of the building. Please note there is no onsite parking,supporting the environmental sustainability of the building's LEED certification. Please be advised parking in the general vicinity is very limited. If you choose to drive, there are two Green P parking lots (see map below). There is also meter parking on St. Clair Avenue.
With no milk, no eggs, no vegetables and a can of soup left, we caved on Saturday night and gave up on our welfare diet experiment. We went back and forth on it, wondering if we were throwing in the towel too early - we could have had a small bowl of soup for dinner, after all, and there were enough corn flake peanut butter balls for breakfast?. But after two days at the provincial basketball finals (Nick as coach, our eldest son playing and the rest of us cheering - loudly) we were headachey and hungry and too exhausted to discuss any more. I felt a bit ashamed ? until, that is, I began to gorge on crackers and cheese. I was desperate to fill my maw as quickly as possible - to eat and eat and eat. Just because I could. I have craved flavour, savouriness, real, chewy taste, and the delicious cheese, crunchy crackers, savoury baba ghanoush and hummus really hit the spot. I had to force myself to stop, worried about feeling sick after eating little this week. But though I?m no longer hungry (and the headaches have subsided), I continue to feel ashamed. Being able to quit the experiment so easily is a startling reminder of the great privilege we have compared to those we are attempting to show solidarity with, and, as a result, a reminder of the terrible inequities in our society. People on social assistance can?t just pack it in because they?re tired and bored of the same old soup or had a really tough weekend. They have no choice. And choice is the thing I keep coming back to. Losing the ability to make choices about how I live and eat, how I socialize, where and how I go where I go was by turns depressing, disheartening and isolating. I don't really mean the ability to make choices as a consumer (although that, of course, is the first thing lost by someone living in poverty), instead, this lack of choice goes much deeper. Partly, it's because food isn?t like other consumer goods - you don't absolutely need a TV or nail polish, whereas food is essential, a basic need, and not being able to have any say in what/how much you eat feels like being striped of something equally essential. It feels like losing freedom, it feels like losing yourself. It made me feel enervated, sad and trapped. I've been careful all week when I talk to people not to overdramatize my experience Doing the Math. I know it's an experiment and a stunt and it's not some magic wand that gives me deep insight into what it's like to live on social assistance week after week, month after month. But I do feel like I have a more emotional understanding of some of the challenges. I also have an even greater respect and admiration for people on social assistance - like many of those in The Stop's inspiring Bread and Bricks advocacy group - who manage to find deep reserves of strength and dignity, speaking up and fighting back, despite living in extremely difficult circumstances. Finally, this experience has left me feeling even more profoundly (and, I think, constructively) angry about our inadequate response to poverty and hunger in this province. Over and over this week I found myself trying to explain to people that the food bank hamper isn't just a supplement to an already stocked fridge, it is the only thing many people have to eat after paying rent - and despite the best efforts of non-governmental organizations like The Stop, it?s inadequate to boot. It is not just wrong that social assistance fails to meet basic needs and leaves people hungry, isolated, depressed and unhealthy, it is immoral. I hope this project and the ongoing work of the Do the Math team will also inspire others to reassess what they think they know about social assistance and to challenge our society and our government to provide adequate supports (based on real life costs) to those in need.
Monday: Went to a drop in center at a downtown church for a meal. No sign of the event at the church - perhaps I have the time or location wrong, or perhaps it is a seasonal program. Disappointing, since my last drop in meal was a big boost to both my diet and my spirits. I have a couple of eggs left, so I go home to make an omelet for dinner. Looking ahead to the last day, I have kept a banana from my last drop in meal which I can eat for breakfast, and just enough left over stew for lunch to make it to the dinner event which marks the end of the week. Rationing my food has allowed me to eat daily for the week, but I have been hungry and low on energy most of the time, and have lost weight more quickly than is healthy.
I can live on this diet for a week, but it is clearly not healthy in the long run, particularly for growing children and people who need the stamina for work or searching for work.
Ten people asked to live on food-bank rations for one week
Photo cred: David Cooper, Toronto Star
For the past week, 10 prominent Torontonians have been living on food bank rations from the Stop Community Food Centre to experience life on social assistance and to raise awareness about Ontario?s low welfare rates. (A single person on welfare gets a maximum of $585 per month.) The Stop wants Queen?s Park to introduce a $100 healthy food supplement for every adult on welfare. For more visit Stop?s ?Do the Math? website .
The challenge ends Tuesday at 7 p.m. with a town hall meeting at the Wychwood Barns where participants will discuss their experiences.
Read the full article here http://bit.ly/dyG2W4 and read all other media coverage here http://dothemath.thestop.org/media.php
Well, it's Saturday afternoon and we're out of food. The only thing left is a few spoonfuls of peanut butter. Each of us missed at least one meal to make the food stretch a little longer. Our big luxury of the week was dinner last night when we used 3 potatoes and 3 onions with 2 cups of milk and a couple of teaspoons of flour to make scalloped potatoes, with one hotdog each and black tea. In order to have enough milk to make the scalloped potatoes, we drank our decaffeinated tea black all week. We used the milk sparingly on our instant oatmeal each morning. The pasta we made for dinner on the first night (with a bag of elbow macaroni, a can of tomato sauce and a can of tuna) was also what we had for lunch every day because we could put it in plastic containers and take it to work and school. Most of the food was pretty tasteless. The canned vegetables were the worst - hardly even recognizable as vegetables, overcooked and over-salted.
I had a choir practice on Wednesday night, where there is always a delicious snack brought by one of the choir members. This Wednesday was no exception, but I didn't allow myself to have any. I felt anger welling up in me as I watched my friends eat, and thought about all the times in a day a person might walk by a restaurant window or an outdoor patio and see people laughing and eating, knowing she would never sit in their place. I also realized how not having money for food limits social interaction. At choir, it's assumed that we can all afford to take our turn to bring a snack for everyone. Of course, the snack coordinator would be understanding if someone couldn?t afford it, but it would be awkward and embarrassing to have to ask for special treatment.
Anger is something I've been feeling a lot this week. I work on food issues every day at Local Food Plus. I know that we have the lowest food prices in the world in Canada - so low that many of our farmers can't make a decent living and are themselves in poverty - and yet people go hungry because they can't afford to buy food. Lowering food prices isn't the answer. Our food prices should reflect the true cost of producing food in this country - including paying farm workers fair wages and using environmentally responsible production methods. But it's an outrage that people go hungry in the midst of plenty. That?s why I support The Stop's campaign to raise the food allowance for people on social assistance!
I am starting to receive many emails on the diet. It is provoking a good conversation and storytelling. People are focused on: the need for jobs that pay reasonably, the terrible fallout that will result when the special diet money gets cut, on their disability. One mentioned how she knows women who are resorting to illegal activities to get food for themselves. No one as yet has expressed negative feelings towards the poor; in fact virtually everyone so far has commented that they feel for the plight of those who are hungry. This is a hopeful sign, perhaps indicating that the war against the poor might be subsiding (here's hoping!).
Rosalee and I went to the Drop In lunch at St Michael's and All Angels. We were embarrassed to go in. We were very hungry but did not want to take food from others. A fight almost broke out and the police were called in. Someone had come in very drunk and was being disruptive. The volunteers at places like St Michael's, Wychwood Open Doors and The Stop, as well as all the Out of the Cold volunteers are such good folk. They have a strong sense of compassion, are non-judgmental, and figure out how to make things work. The city would be a different place without them. I cannot remember city hall ever hosting an event to thank volunteers who help feed the poor and who advocate on their behalf. Note to self: we have to find a way to thanks these volunteers before the end of this term of Council. The other great thing about these meals is that it is good food with some real meat, and more often than not, folks are able to take home a doggie bag.
I bumped into a lot of people on the way home from the Drop In. A lot of people wanted to chat about the diet and so it took me a long while to make it home. It intrigues people. They often have a story to tell themselves either personal or some friend or family member. I guess that this was the purpose of the exercise and it is working. My hope is that these kinds of conversations lead to a political will that pushes governments to increase social assistance rates and reform. The stories must lead to a different politics.
We need to find a way to go big on this "Eat the Math". So many people have either been on social assistance, or know of relatives, etc. Their compassion and solidarity is strong and real. Yet it is not organized into an effective political voice. There has to be a next steps here to broaden the conversation, build a movement of solidarity with those that struggle with hunger in our city.
Read the full entry here http://bit.ly/dcw6Nd
Photo credit: Magda Olszanowski http://www.raisecain.net/
Saturday:
My weight is down again this morning for a total loss of five pounds in five days. For dinner today I throw most of my remaining food, including my few remaining vegetables, into a pot to make a sort of stew, which I hope is enough to last me for a couple of days. Because I've been rationing my food I still have a can of soup and a few eggs, but I'm probably going to have to visit another drop in for a meal before the end of the week. Still feeling low on energy.
Sunday:
Just before lunch today I unexpectedly had to take an elderly family member to a hospital emergency room for urgent care. The visit lasts until late afternoon. Unable to plan ahead for meals away from home, I find myself without food for most of the day. Desperate, I buy a muffin at the hospital coffee shop to tide me over until supper. Clearly this diet requires careful planning and does not allow for the unexpected - if I had not had money to buy food, I would have gone without.
If you have been interested in this campaign and want to make a difference, I feel that there are many things you can do:
Pressure the government to raise the rates for those in the unfortunate situation of having to rely on Social Assistance and Food Banks.
Pressure the government for greater subsidies for organic local farms and penalties for companies that create unhealthy food so it is no longer profitable for them to stay in business.
Buy local organic food as much as possible directly from farmers at farmers markets. Or check out the many companies, like my friend, Tony's (www.wheelbarrowfarm.com) that deliver farm fresh products directly from the farm to community shared spaces for a number of months during the growing season.
Shop in small local stores, including bookshops, coffee shops and the like, instead of chain stores that take money out of communities and give nothing back. Pressure school boards to eliminate all processed and sugary food in vending machines and cafeterias.
Insist all advertisers who promote unhealthy food pay high taxes to help pay for the increased burden on the healthcare system to help those affected with diet-related illness.
And take the Do the Math challenge yourself.
Assume you have $100, no more, to spend on food for a month and go through the exercise of simply trying to survive. It will not be the same as someone on Social Assistance, but it will make you that much more aware of the challenges of drastically limited choice.
I debated when to stop this challenge. We were asked to go as long as we could with the hamper, intended for three days, but stretched by some on Social Assistance to last longer.
In the end, I ended the challenge with my mother's food. I had imagined finishing with a meal prepared by my mother in a community setting to reinforce how much we all may already do that for each other and how we can work together to extend our notions of family and community to include everyone.
I didn't stop for any of these reasons, though. I stopped because I was hungry and dizzy and malnourished. It was privilege that gave me fanciful thoughts of some poignant ending that I could choose for dramatic emphasis. But, the reality of hunger is not romantic or poetic.
Photo: Rose of LAL, Jason, The Stop's Communication Coordinator and Nic of LAL
it's been 4 days, and i am struggling the last meal we made, made me feel ill, so much for peanut butter, yesterday's rice and cream of mushroom soup with a fried egg
i've been deeply affected by the food I am taking into my body. Have fought with food addiction issues and Bulimia (something that runs in my family), i've worked hard to eat better and take care of myself much more, sacrificing other niceties for better food choices. This experience brings me back our earlier years as artists. With not having a lot of money and eating food that was not healthy but cheap. It was very hard to keep going, keep the relationship going and also to continue to pursue music. But we both committed to not letting our financial situation break us apart. My whole body seems to be out of it. My mind is not steady and suffering from mild depression (on and off over my life), I feel very much affected by not eating well. Not having the choice to eat healthy food is also a hard thing, since i've worked so hard to try to eat better, to feel better. We had lunch today the the Stop, and the food again was amazing. Nic and I sat and ate together, and talked about how we were being affected. I was less upset then I was the first time attended but it's still a reality that I am processing. Everyday this world becomes more and more visible. I am determined to do more regarding issues of poverty in Toronto. I come from Bangladesh, and I have witnessed intense poverty, going back and forth to Toronto, Kolkata and Dhaka, more and more I realize my privilege and access around not just food but everything. I am thinking of all the political work that ties into lack of support around health and food. Lack of affordable housing, free education, inability of non - status communities to access some of these programs, violence against women and children, youth incarceration, the destruction of environment and farms in Ontario etc.... If we could find a way to at least feed and house folks (no questions asked) then maybe it would be a start in mending some of the issues that intersect. the lack of healthy food, a basic essential, affects your entire system. It can cause much more stress then we realize. I was raised to cherish what I have, particularly the food I was provided with. I was lucky, not of all us are. But with that said, there's nothing wrong with being poor, just something wrong with not being able to survive with dignity. We live in a society that demonizes poverty, it's not the people that have the problems, it's the system that is the problem. For all those who believe that programs like these are not worth it or that it's a free ride, you should try not having for a week, or not being able to choose what you eat and where you live for some time. It's not even about that, it's just about making sure people are ok. It doesn't matter what the reasons are, people should be able to be at least ok. After the 4th day, i caved in. I had popeyes. unhealthy food makes you crave even more unhealthy food. I have very little self control, this has made me realize that when you have little choice, especially if you have a family, you sometimes have to have a lot of self control. But to keep it up day after day must prove difficult, impossible sometimes. I wish sometimes I was the 'celebrity' that had access, so that I had money and influence to create more change. But honestly I don't think that's the answer. All of us are just as important then the next person, regardless of where society places us on the ladder of success. I just need to keep on doing what I do, working for social change and hope that things will get better. I have much work to do to get back into my daily routine, but this time i am much more aware of the conditions that exist for many Torontonians. I have always been sensitive to these issues, and have dedicated my life to speaking to issues like these, through art. Now i have to figure out how to use my voice to do more, to unite with my community in the battle that lies ahead.
Friday: I step on the scale this morning and discover that I have lost four pounds - at one pound per day, this is too fast for a healthy weight loss. I continue to feel low on energy and hungry at work, with headache off and on. My work colleagues look concerned and ask after my health.
For dinner, I try a downtown drop in centre which offers a free meal. I have had difficulty finding free meals, as most of the locations are not easy to reach or don't serve meals when I can get to them. Many are at Out of the Cold locations in churches, which have just closed for the season. People have greater need for shelter in the winter months when the programs are open, but don't they eat all year round? I arrive too late for the first sitting, so I stand in line with my ticket in hand with the other diners as a few snow flakes fall. People talk about the price of housing, utilities and shoes, and share information about the death of a common acquaintance. Someone hopes aloud that they are serving chicken, and is disappointed when reports from diners leaving indicate that it is pasta. I share the feeling, as I have had pasta for my last three meals. However, I am pleasantly surprised - the drop in center meal is the best I have had this week, and I eat as much as I can, though the fullness is uncomfortable more than satisfying. The pasta comes with fresh meatballs and salad (two items missing from my food bank diet), and ice cream with peaches is a treat for dessert - my first since picking up my hamper. Everyone gets one meal, but milk, juice and coffee refills are plentiful, and some of the diners empty theirs into containers to take away. As a bonus I get a box lunch as I leave, to add to my shrinking food supply at home.
I'm feeling nauseated and I have heart burn. I didn't really have breakfast this morning, I had a few baby carrots and nuts and then waited until lunch to fry some rice and potatoes in olive oil. I ate a big bowl of that, a few more baby carrots and a tomato.
The first few bites were great, but after that, my body started getting agitated with all the carbs and lack of adequate fresh fruits and vegetables of which I typically eat lots.During rehearsal yesterday, I took a nap over our fifteen minute break and when I woke up to start rehearsal, I stood up and immediately fell over. My foot wasn't really asleep, but it wasn't cooperating. I fell hard down a stair, all my weight landing on one knee, still sore today. My little finger is sore too. I am fairly certain I've fractured it. I can't say 100% that the fall is connected with the diet so far, but it's never happened before and I have been feeling a little bit dizzy. Food and health are so obviously connected it should be criminal to deny someone the most basic rights of adequate fresh healthy food not loaded with sugar and starch and fillers like wheat and corn and soy that have led to so many allergies. When I got home to make something for dinner, most of my fresh supplies already used up, I decided to make something with the chickpeas I had been soaking for a number of hours. I boiled them for a while and then blended them with olive oil, salt, one clove of garlic and water. I ate it with a quarter section of my last tomato. The first few bites were great and then I started feeling nauseated. I love hummus and can eat a lot of it, but I think the tahini helps with the digestion or something and I didn't get any of that in my food hamper. I have some in the fridge, but resisted using any. Looking in the fridge, I have a lot of food in there now. Papaya, watermelon, chocolate, brussel sprouts, broccoli and more. But, for now, I can't touch any of it. It made me think of my hamper food and the fridge as metaphorically representing our society. I have so much near me that I cannot access and have to struggle with the little I have to survive. Similarly, those struggling on social assistance see everywhere around them a society like my fridge, full and overflowing with abundance, but they cannot access any of it. Not the clothes, not the lifestyles and not even the basic food. It's gotta change. This is absurd.
It is Friday and I'm basically out of food. I have some rice and oatmeal and a couple tablespoons of peanut butter. That's all. I'm tired of this. I'm grouchy. I'm sluggish. And I'm not thinking straight. My friends might say that's normal but I'm not on my game. So I'm going off this tomorrow. No food. I could just go hungry and not eat for the next three days but I'm already tired and irritable.
Catherine: The Lindt Easter bunny and chocolates in the cupboard are haunting me! Agh!
Rosalee: My headache was the worst yet today, and by 5:00 I could hardly think anymore. By 5:30 we were eating an unusually early supper (in our real life). And, I never knew how good a processed, chicken hot-dog with a few potatoes and onions could taste. The meal, again, just didn't feel complete or fully satisfying. Joe: Today, I ventured to Wychwood Open Doors which is around the corner from where I live. I recognized a number of the folk from the neighbourhood. The lunch was mostly pastas and rice, with some salad and vegetables which were most welcome. The lineup to get the food was quite long. I did not realize, even living so close, just how many people used the service. The invisible poor come out in big numbers for a free meal. For me, it was embarrassing lining up for free food, perhaps because it was my first time hustling food in a drop in centre. I ate the plate of food, but saved the dessert, banana and yogurt to take home for my daughters. Read the full entry here http://bit.ly/aIpa8B
Michael eating lunch in his work space on Day 4.
Hotdog wiener rice pilaf, left over from dinner that he made last night.
Michael on the social aspects of eating food with others:
How his friends and colleagues are responding to his participation in Do the Math:
Joe and The Stop’s Community Advocate, Rene sit down for lunch at the drop-in.
Joe: …The Stop’s lunch program was full of people. Everyone gets a free meal regardless of who they are and what they look like. The atmosphere is cordial and supportive around the room. Food does indeed bring people together and warms us to one another. There is a strong social aspect to the drop in. People connect with one another and support workers from the agency and public health. The food also fills a dire need for folks who are really struggling to get by. All the reports that we get at city hall is that drop in centres are so critical for people living on the edge; they keep people housed, supported, safe, and relatively healthy. Today I experienced this directly.
One day we need to get the government to allow universities to grant Ph.D.s in “street smarts”. People living in poverty have to be resourceful and strategic in everything that they do. There is little room for error; errors will cost you food, and push you right out to the margins. Over lunch today, folks at my table talked about how they stretch their budgets, where the real bargains and freebies are, how they figure out transportation, how fierce determination is absolutely necessary each and every day, how they prioritize between food, shelter and transportation needs, how they keep their spirits up, how they would like governments to support them better. They are tough and smart.
Read the Mihevc family’s full entry here http://bit.ly/9kaUpp
