Rehabilatation of Underpreviledge Elderly

Old age is a suffering for the most. Even the well to do is not spared. This is how an Egyptian scribe laments to God about old age 4500 years ago;

“O Sovereign my Lord! Oldness has come; old age has descended. Feebleness has arrived; dotage is here anew. The heart sleeps wearily every day. The eyes are weak, the ears are deaf, the strength is disappearing because of weariness of the heart and the mouth is silent and cannot speak. The heart is forgetful and cannot recall yesterday. The bone suffers old age. God is become evil. All taste is gone. What old age does to men is evil in every respect.”1 *

The above verse speaks eloquently speaks for the pain borne by almost every old man as the body becomes frail, mental sharpness declines and memory becomes weak. But this actually is only a part of total suffering borne by an average old man.

The problem is aggravated doubly in case of poor families. In addition to the failing health old people face problems of economic insecurity as their income dwindles after retirement and also isolation and neglect from the mainstream of young and middle aged people. This makes them mostly lonely creatures craving for attention. As they expect and hanker for a little care they have given to their offspring, their children find them obsolete and burdensome and they are quite often subject of abuse, both mental and physical. They are often rejected and thrown out from their home (6 out of 10 elderly couples are forced to leave home by their children in India)2*. Sometimes they are left to fend for themselves even by affluent families. These fearful people with both physical and mental strength gone are left in this cruel world alone.

But these are the people who have brought us to this world. They have given their utmost to care for us when we were young and helpless so that we could become successful people in the society. It is our duty to reciprocate the love and care they have given us when they themselves are helpless and need it most. Government support till now is meager and the problem of old age is growing each day because the number of old people is growing due to greater life expectancy (for example for 11 lakh senior citizens in Delhi there only 4 government run old age homes)3*. A great deal has to be done by private organizations. In view of this Rescue and Relief Foundation (R&R) has started work in great eagerness to help these disadvantaged parents and grandparents.

We have named our elderly care project “BHALOBASA”. Bhalobasa in Bengali means love. Also ‘Bhalo’ means good and ‘Basa’ means home. So the aim of ‘BHALOBASA’ is to provide love and good home for these elderly grandparents. Under this project R&R provides financial and administrative help of 3 old age homes at present. They are located in Kolaghat (Rayen village), Shason (South 24 Parganas), and Panki, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Dwellers of these homes have no income of their own and they have nobody else to care for them. At present these homes are giving shelter and care to 85 elderly grandparents with ages above 55 years. The total capacity of these homes is 105 persons.

All the residents of old age homes are provided with shelter, good food, clothing and medical treatment whenever necessary. Good cots, bed linen, pillows etc. are also provided. Good quality toilets are provided. Two persons share each room. Cultural programs and excursions like picnics are organized quite regularly to fill the lives of these people with fun as much as possible.

However there are some problems which we would like to address as soon as possible. Both Shason and Kolaghat homes are located far away from locality in secluded places. There is problem of electricity. There are frequent power cuts for very long durations (sometimes 15 days or more in case of heavy rain or storm). So there is a critical need for a generator here. Shason home needs a water purifier for pure drinking water.

Since the elderly people of the homes are totally dependent on charity they lack any money even for small things like recharging their mobiles. We have plans to train the willing elderly women to make food items like Achar, Papad etc so that they can earn a little for themselves and also spend their time in worthwhile work. In old age time sits heavily in life and it is a labor to spend it alone. We are also starting a vocational training program for under privileged women by providing them sewing machines (in Shason) which can be availed by the women of old age homes for earning and time spending.

In this way we hope to bring back the smile and laughter of joy to these elderly grandparents which they have forgotten.

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