AUDIO ONLY

[Door slam and echo. Sound of footfall of person running up concrete steps. Sound of car engine as it drives away.]

Meg: My first three months of living with cancer went like this:

Revolving Door

I was on this self-employment course with people with disabilities paid for by the ministry of human resources, also known as welfare. Now I had breast cancer, and no money to live off,  I went to the welfare office to apply for a disability benefit. But they said, first, I had to apply for welfare [door slam] and do work search. Or, if I was too unwell to do work search, I should get a note from my doctor, which I did. And I took it to the welfare intake interview along with everything else they told me to bring, which was my driver’s license, health card, bank statements for the last three months, taxes, vehicle registration and insurance. I had been doing work search. They said I still needed to be assessed for work readiness by the employment centre [door slam], which I had been to before. That’s who referred me to the self-employment course for people with disabilities I was now on [door slam] which was paid for by the welfare office. The same welfare office who said I might have to stop going to the course [door slam] because if you’re on welfare you’re not allowed to be trying to become self-employed and it’s not considered work search. [door slam] [A ringing noise begins. It is overlayed with the sound of children’s voices playing outdoors. Both slowly fade].