By Tim Walker
I hate Kraft dinner. Macaroni, cheese and me – we’re enemies.
Coming from a poor family, macaroni and cheese was something I’ve been forced to eat for as long as I can remember. It’s all, a lot of the time, we could afford. These days, I won’t touch the stuff.
I wasn’t born into an easy life. Our family was poor, I know Children’s Aid too well and ran to the streets at 15. During that time, I smoked crack to deal with a plethora of emotional issues, worked in the sex industry to make ends meet and stole bread from hotels when I was hungry.
At 18, I was diagnosed with HIV. I was told I had four to five years to live.
That was 20 years ago.
At the age of 24, I was faced with 14 years in prison. However, I was offered an opportunity to go to a drug rehabilitation center instead and after completing my therapy, and being given a suspended sentence by the court, I was given a position within the rehabilitation center and eventually became a counselor.
I realized I was the only one responsible for my safety and well-being. I’ve been able to maintain sobriety and learned to practice self-care.
At 27, I returned to Ontario to help my mother with her trucking company. I was parts manager and a trailer mechanic for the company. Unfortunately, she passed two years later. With a Grade 9 education, I opened my own trucking agency at the age of 29.
Shortly thereafter, I became sick. I went to welfare and then eventually Ontario Disability Support Program and have been on it ever since.
Recently, I completed an eight-week workshop at an AIDS Service Organization. During that time, I came across the Food Security Study, a national study that looks at the relationship between access to food and HIV.
I decided to get involved and became a Peer Research Assistant, someone who interviews and recruits other people living with HIV to share their experiences with HIV and access to food.
People with HIV are asked to complete one questionnaire and a 24-hour dietary recall. The nice thing is you’re paid $40 to participate in this study.
The Food Security Study is seeking 1,200 people living with HIV from Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia to participate in the study. The study is collaborating with more than 30 community based organizations. This is the first time that information from three major regions in Canada is being brought together to address the health needs of people living with HIV/AIDS.
We are dedicated to ensuring your privacy is carefully guarded. Information collected in this study is for research purposes only and will not affect the services you might receive from AIDS Service Organizations or the medical care you receive.
I know for me, being involved in community research is an investment in my own future and an investment for anyone else who is in need. Hopefully, this study will identify the risk factors and help lay the foundation for programs and policies that help people with HIV, and at risk of HIV, access healthy food.
With access to good food maybe, just maybe, we can avoid creating another Kraft dinner hater.
To participate in the Food Security Study, call 1-855-246-3388 or 416-969-4890.
More information about the study can be found here.
Posted on
Mon, June 27, 2011
by Megan DePutter