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Today’s Youth and Mental Health pp 135–145Cite as

Exploring Youth Mental Health and Addictions at the Intersection of Food Insecurity and Gender

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Social Aetiology of Mental Illness (SAMI) Training Program, Health Systems and Health Equity Research Group, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON, Canada

    Farah Islam

  2. York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Kulsoom Kazim

Authors
  1. Farah Islam
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  2. Kulsoom Kazim
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Farah Islam .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social and Community Services, Humber College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Soheila Pashang

  2. Faculty of Health, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Nazilla Khanlou

  3. School of Social Work, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Jennifer Clarke

Response

Response

  • Kulsoom KazimYork University,Toronto, ON, Canada

My Battle – My Story

It’s true what they say – any trial will test you and push you to your knees.

My mom always taught me to work hard and always have a giving hand, but things change, circumstances change and once again, life pushes you to your knees.

Being a 24-year old, I can easily say that I know what it’s like to limit the very thing cherished by many: food, and while I am grateful for every moment – it really put things in perspective for me.

Our family had been under trials for several years, perhaps still to continue and knowing that the burden to bring the ‘bread’ home was on my shoulders, I continued fulfilling this responsibility to the best of my ability.

But things changed, circumstances changed and I was scared that I was falling on my knees – a perfect position to seek help from The Lord above.

I screamed. I cried. I pleaded because while I can starve for my family, I wouldn’t want to deprive my brother of anything.

I started to realize that hunger by choice is much different than hunger by force, hunger by helplessness and hunger by quite the contrary – a lack of choice.

My mom never deprived us of food. She struggled but not having funds to buy bare necessities became my everyday battle.

What could I do? Where was I to go? When would things change? And how would I get myself out of this situation? I had no idea and no answers.

Eventually I got used to my fridge being empty and while we had meals in the house, it wasn’t what you would call a full plate. Two meals became the norm.

But those who say that a trial will test you often forget to remind you that the test does finish and I? It’s my firm belief that I passed with flying colours. I look at food as a blessing now. I commend those who are afflicted with poverty because they are by all definitions true warriors.

Yes. I do consider myself a warrior because when life pushed me to my knees, I rose up and conquered the insecurities: in this case what I thought was never ending food insecurity. A battle that has engraved my memory for time to come.

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Islam, F., Kazim, K. (2018). Exploring Youth Mental Health and Addictions at the Intersection of Food Insecurity and Gender. In: Pashang, S., Khanlou, N., Clarke, J. (eds) Today’s Youth and Mental Health. Advances in Mental Health and Addiction. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64838-5_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64838-5_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-64836-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-64838-5

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