Living with Unemployment

Howard Sugarhead Contributor

Hello people

My name is Elijah Howard Sugarhead, but you can call me Howard. I was born the day before Christmas in 1985 and raised in a small fly-in reserve of about 400 called Summer Beaver, ON.

I’m here to talk about my experience with welfare. I was on social assistance for more than three years. Out of all those years I wasn’t capable of surviving on my own because I didn’t listen to my dad and the Elders. When they talked to me I was always high and drunk. I never made time to sit down and listen to them. I’d always get up and go. I only went up to Grade 10 in high school and I got kicked out of my parent’s home when I was 19. At that time all I knew was drug dealing, but I retired from that when I was 20. I didn’t wanna be that little boy no more!

I sold everything that I had bought using my drug money including my clothes, gold jewelry, watches and TV. Just to let ya’ll know, it‘s not something I’m proud of.

My mission is to be a real man and to live life to the fullest. To do that, I had to start from scratch. It wasn’t an easy decision for me but I did it anyway.

My first year on welfare was a pain in a butt especially in the winter. Summer, on the other hand, was easy. See the thing was, I didn’t know how to do anything such as hunt, cut wood or go trapping.

I would always get cold and hungry. On top of that, there were times that I found myself wearing the same clothes for a month.

My bum cheque would never last more than a week because the food cost is so high and our reserve is very isolated. I would steal and rip people off just to get by for a day or two. There were times when I would feel like robbing stores and drug dealers just to stop my hunger, but I never did. Thank God or else I could be in jail right now! I managed to tough it out even when I felt like taking the easy way out. The funny part was when my mom and dad told me to stop stealing food from their kitchen they told me “all you have to do ask. We don’t hate you. We love you, my baby boy.”

My father did tell me to pull myself together, straighten up my act and snap out of it. “Apply for any job opportunity there is even when you think your not going to get it… that’s how I started,” he said. So I did apply for every available job there was. The saddest part is how my resume looks… I had no experience. There was basically nothing on it.

For more than three years I tried and tried but there were no opportunities for me. One day I was sitting on my couch thinking about my life… I was going hungry again. My cheque of the month had come in by mail so I walked to the store to spend it. There I was standing in line and waiting for my turn when I turned and saw this chainsaw sitting on the shelves. It got my attention. I decided to buy it and I started cutting wood right away.

I was now self-employed and selling wood to Elders. At first I didn’t like it till I got the hang of it.  It took me a while. I didn‘t want to be a quitter so I kept at it. No one ever taught me how to cut wood nor was I taught how to trap, but I already knew how to hunt… just a little bit.

So I made a lot of money on cutting wood and selling moose meat to make it through my day. I was proud of myself despite all of my broke days. I was thankful I bought that chainsaw but there was something missing… a job to get me permanently out of welfare. That was my other goal. It’s very easy to get on welfare when compared to trying to get off it! LOL

First I started working as a labourer in housing to brighten up my resume for that next time I’d apply for a job. I know it may not sound like much, but at least it’s somewhere to start. The other thing I did was go to a treatment centre for rehab and I began to attend youth conferences. One year went by. I was still unemployed but I was self employed working for Elders hauling and chopping their wood… anything they needed I was their guy!

Finally, summer came and on June 21st 2009. I was hired to build a house just outside my home. Then, one afternoon, I saw a job opportunity again… a local youth coordinator was needed. My buddy Harry Keesic, one of the guys I was working with on the construction site, told me “you’re the right person for the job.” I asked him why he thought so, and he said “you like helping the youth and everyone, I seen that.” He kept bugging me to go apply for it. Everyone close to me said the same thing. Their encouragement gave me the motivation to put my name in the running for the job. And lo and behold, I was the lucky one because I landed the job. Fortunately, I didn’t have to go through any interview. LOL I’d suck at it anyways.

On July 6th 2009, I began working as a local youth coordinator. I also work with a few other organizations, and everything is going good with me. I know for a fact I will still have challenges in the future. You never know what will come, but it can’t hurt to always prepare for anything.

My point is… being on welfare makes you lose touch with reality. It makes you angry to never have any money in your pocket, and then spending all of your money to do drugs… it’s an awful scene.

I’ve been there and done that. I know some of ya’ll are going through that. Even as I write this short story, I hope you learn a little bit about welfare living and how to overcome it. The answer is all around you… with your parents, Elders, and most importantly, yourselves.

If could go back in time, I would change everything I’ve done wrong like not listening to my parents and Elders because they’re always right when it comes down to being on your own.

The other thing I wish I could do over would be to finish my Grade 12. What I’ve learned is that, with out your education your future is very hard. But I’m planning to go back to school when I’m done working here in Summer Beaver.

Plus I wanna be a manager of my rap group called REX-MIX RECORDS. Here’s my home page if you’re interested in finding out more about my rap group www.howardwsugarhead.myknet.org
Will that’s it for me. I hope some of ya’ll learned a little bit about struggle and welfare life. Never give up no matter how hard you think you got it in life. Always get back up if your falling and stand proud.

Yours truly,
ELIJAH HOWARD SUGARHEAD