Dandelion Corner

March for Dignity !

2009-05-26T02:07:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I spent about eight hours with another person putting up flier's for the"March for Dignity " that will be happening on Sunday , May 31, 12pm on the boulevard at Vancouver and Pandora in Victoria British Columbia . As I went out into the communities to get this message out to all that I could get to listen , I encountered some the the people that are being denied this service . A service that could mean a matter of life or death to so many people who are addicted to intravenous drugs or addicted to smoking crack cocaine if something is not done immediately .

The needle exchange in Victoria has been closed for one year on May 31 and there has been a no-service zone put in place so that those who need these services no longer have it available in the area where the other services that they can access such as , hot meals , medical care, emergency food ,showers , clean clothes and blankets, even housing at " Our Place " are . Taking this service away is only opening the door to the greater spread of Hepatitis C or Aids because a lot of the people who need this service are sometimes just way to sick to make it to the Mobile Service. This presents a a heavy burden for those such as Solid and Sag who are trying to distribute just basic supplies to those who can not make it to the Mobile Service which is far more equipped to handle the much need service. Having the mobile unit is also a way for the members of the team to be available with information or medical help if some one needs it .

We need to stop letting fear control how we conduct ourselves as human beings on this planet , because, what does the face look like of some one who is addicted to something that is unhealthy to their health or others . . Addiction can also be alcohol, food , gambling , coffee , shopping , sex , nicotine , and even for our children, video games or television . We provide mass amount of services to help those who need services when their addictions have caused health issues such as cancer , diabetes , obesity , or other health issues . Why are we so adamant about not providing this same support and compassion to the addict who is addicted as well ?

We need to stop saying " we are protecting our children by not wanting a service in our neighborhood that would save a life " because the addicted are also someones child . I would like to believe that if your child needed a service to save their life the folks of your community would join together to help in any way they can . Why is an addict not deserving of the same respect and dignity .

We need to demand the immediate end to the no-service zone , we need to call for the immediate opening of fixed site needle exchanges and supervised consumption services .

We need to stop dehumanizing addicts and start helping them when they are at their most vulnerable .

Why would we not want to step up as a city and help save another human beings child ? Do we not see the collateral damage that is being done because we we are to blind or ignorant on the issues of addictions or because we truly believe the only face of an addict is of a poor homeless person who deserves every thing that has happened or will happen to them .

My name is Jade and I am fifty -eight years old and I am a recovering addict , alcoholic who was diagnosed with Hepatitis C thirteen years ago from my use of intravenous drugs from 1964 -1967 . There was no services available then either nor did we have any idea about Hepatitis C or even Aids to the extent we now know . Hepatitis C can remain dormant for up to twenty years and by that time it can create a lot of damage to the liver and other vital organs . It also can be spread to others during this time, all the while no one is even aware they have contracted it . There are a lot of people who come from my generation that have experiment with intravenous drugs "back in the day ", that are now just starting to show the signs of Hepatitis C . Do we really want to see another generation suffer from these debilitating diseases?

I urge you to come out and walk in support " Harm Reduction Victoria" in the March for Dignity happening on Sunday, May 31, 12pm on the boulevard at Vancouver and Pandora .

I urge you to demand the immediate end to the no-service zone

I urge you to demand of your government the immediate opening of fixed site needle exchange and supervised consumption services .

The life you may be saving now or later on in their life may be your neighbors child or maybe it will be your child .

Food for thought ......

2009-05-07T20:58:00.001-07:00

Wow!!!!! we have $1million to spend on revitalization of Centennial Square. Victoria's Spirit Square is designed to make Centennial Square more inviting to the general public and increase opportunities for celebrations and events. Construction will begin the first week of April and be completed by the end of June 2009.

So if we have this money to spend my questions to you are :

Why do we have no low -income housing available to the folks of our community ?

Why have we no money for Harm Reduction ?

Why are our senior's panhandling on the streets just to have rent and food to survive ?

Why has the government falling short in providing 5,000 long term care beds for our senior's ?

Why are our Children and Family Services not able to hire more workers so that our most vulnerable are able to access the services they need ?

The general public applies to the members of these communities as well .... .... so why haven't we
taken care of their needs first instead of the "Tourists and the Capitalists of the Downtown Street Association "

Maybe after reading this short list of things you will think about some other things that this
money could have been better spent on at this time in our city ...

"Chicoutimi " arrives at Ogden Point

2009-05-02T22:59:00.000-07:00

The Chicoutimi arrives at Ogden Point aboard the semi-submersible heavy lift vessel Dockwise Tern .

Gettng here .....

2009-04-17T16:29:00.000-07:00

If a travel consultant were to take a marker and follow my life adventures up to now it definitely would not be in a straight line . My walk has lead me through different area's of society from living on the streets to owning a business and a home . To all this would appear as I had achieved a lot and that I had changed my life around but this was not the case . I was a functioning addict alcoholic who had not hit her bottom yet and I did not do that until I was forty -three years of age .

However when I walked through the door of the treatment center I grateful to say I have not picked up another drink nor have I used illicit drugs but it is not because it just stopped at that moment or the cravings went away . It has taken a lot of hard work by going to many , many meetings , to therapy , sharing my experience , strength , and hope with others that have been down that same path . I found that I learn to trust , to be honest and a reason to want to stay clean and sober . The recovery community became my family but I became the child who would not leave home . I did not know how to interact with people outside of my community so for fifteen years my only activities were within that realm and I limited my interaction with the community outside of it .

I would attend meetings rallies and share about my addictions but that is all I ever spoke about I had grown up in a household where the children were to be seen but not heard and it was this same code that I carried through my life . Sure I could do the social niceties but to express my own opinions , ideas or thoughts I used music and poetry to do that for me . The volume of my voice I allowed to come through the musicians voices and the poets by choosing songs or poems that expressed what I wanted to say or what I was feeling . This leads to a very lonely life after a while and it took me to the point of where I was at last August .

In the program I learned to accept that things happen for a reason so when a friend I had not seen in two years crossed my path on the day I had decided to come to a conclusion about what I was going to do, I knew I had to at least take in consideration another choice for my life . That choice was going back to school and because of my disabilities I fit the criteria to be accept into the program . At first I was very skeptical because most of my life I had run into barriers because of my choices in life or there was always an agenda on why the organization wanted to help . I had also learned that nothing was for free and there had to be a catch some where . My friend put the application up on my computer and left with the words " it will change your life if you take the chance " . I sat at the looking at that screen for about four hours before I started filled out the application. At one part it wanted to know if there was some one they could get in touch with so that they would be sure I was able to stay committed to attending the program all the way through and it hit me I had no body's name to put there but mine . My mind went there's the catch they will never accept me but my finger went to the send button and the application was on it's way .

A few weeks later much to my surprise and apprehension an email arrived stating I had been accepted in Uni 101 at the university of Victoria . My life has not been the same since ..

Imagine that !

2009-04-12T00:48:00.000-07:00

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that a university would offer me the opportunity to attend classes but that is exactly what happened last August . The university of Victoria offers introductory academic courses to people whose economic and social circumstances that would normally be an obstacles to university education.They are free non-credit, academic courses that introduce the students to a wide range of university topics. Non-credit means that you will get a completion certificate for attending the course, but the course cannot be applied to a degree or diploma program. The introductory courses are in the Humanities and the Sciences where it believed by those involved with the program can give us tools to understand our own society and history.
The program is set up so that the student feel very supported and there is not anything that hasn't been thought of ahead of time .Meals are provided at the beginning of each class, at the start of each semester the binders, pens pencils paper are passed out to each student . Bus tickets and child care subsidies are also available to those who are in need of such services .