The marginalisation of older peopleby G. Wakuraya Wanjohi with George Mulatya
The situation of older peopleThis situation is all the more tragic in that the majority of these older people can recall the times when to be old was synonymous with being respected for its own sake. Besides, being old meant that one had gained wisdom and experience useful for passing on to the next generation. The wisdom of the community was found in stories, proverbs and riddles and the older people would be passing it on to the succeeding generation. Older women would be telling tales as they were preparing the evening meal with the children helping and sitting around the fire. Then there was the important role of the elders who were chosen for their wisdom and were given the important task of arbitrating differences and conflicts which arose in the community.What are the reasons why, too often, older people no longer command the respect which they once did, but are instead frequently forgotten and marginalised? Wajibu talked with George Mulatya of Helpage Kenya about the reasons for this situation. George feels that the main problem is the disintegration of the extended family. Due to social and economic circumstances the younger people have gradually been moving out of the rural areas and have settled in town, leaving the older people behind. Often the young people do not get well-paying jobs and have difficulty(once they start a family(to send money back home or to go there and visit their parents. What is sad about such a situation is that often the parents will have sacrificed the little they had to educate their children. For example, they may have sold a cow to pay for school fees. Of course, there are some young people who have moved to town and have become well to do. Such people will usually support their parents back in the countryside, but they are the exception rather than the rule. This is evident from the reports which social workers send to Helpage Kenya: "Sabina's son left to look for a job and did not tell his mother where he went."
"Ngila's son went to look for a job and up till now has not come back." However, there are other reasons for the marginalisation of many elderly besides the break-up of the extended family. There often is general poverty in the area in which the older people are living, the land is frequently unproductive and drought is an ever-present threat. Therefore, even the older people who are still able to till their small plots cannot confidently rely on this source of income. So the social workers write: "Kuthea hurt herself and had to be taken to the clinic in a wheelbarrow since that was the cheapest vehicle available. " "Mutua's crops are withering due to lack of rain." "Kitenge planted cowpeas but the seeds withered after germinating." The marginalisation of older people must also be attributed to the enormous generation gap between them and the young. If this gap is felt between parents and their children growing up in this fast changing world, what about the children and their grandparents? It even happens that the children and their grandparents no longer have a common language in which to communicate.
Interventions by Helpage KenyaHelpage Kenya was set up in 1982 after Kenyan representatives attended a UN meeting in Vienna on the question of the aging population. The aim of Helpage is to co-ordinate the work of the various organisations and homes which have the concern of the aged at heart. Its main tasks are fundraising, training and the creation of awareness. They work through religious organisations and civic groups.One of the ways in which Helpage Kenya creates awareness and raises funds at the same time is through its schools programmes. Youngsters in school help to raise funds and are taught about the needs of the older generation. Another scheme of Helpage Kenya is its "Adopt a Granny" scheme. In this scheme someone agrees to pay for the needs of an older individual and is sent a regular report on this person. At the moment about forty percent of the funds distributed by Helpage comes from local sources and sixty percent from abroad. The ultimate aim of Helpage Kenya's fundraising efforts is to raise all funds locally. Ninety percent of the funds raised go for the needs, such as food, clothing and medicine, of the older people; ten percent goes towards administration and the salaries of social workers. However, it must be said that much work in helping the aged, especially visiting, is done on a voluntary basis. Presently some 18,000 people in the country are being assisted through Helpage Kenya. In order to make the older people feel wanted and useful, they themselves are integrated in projects set up for them; in fact, the older people who are able help in the design and management of the projects. The projects are concerned with income generation and with social activities. Helpage Kenya also runs courses, both for the project holders(that is the church organisations and community groups who are the ones actually in touch with the older people in the field(as well as for the older people themselves. They have courses such as: Healthy Aging; Participatory Project Identification and Planning; and Older people in Management. In all this work Helpage Kenya gets assistance from Helpage International based in London. In turn, they themselves provide input for this organisation.
ConclusionHelpage Kenya is doing an admirable job in their task of bringing some solace to the many needy older people in our country. But they are unable to help all the older people in need of assistance. Also, the present social and economic turmoil in our country is bound to have repercussions on the most vulnerable, such as the aged, and many more of them will find themselves in want in the future. To address their needs, more is necessary than handouts and charity. The underlying social causes of the sad situation in which many older people find themselves need to be looked into. Among these causes are: neglect of the rural areas(where most of the older persons live( and lack of adequate social policies for the retired. Another even more serious reason for the marginalisation of the older generation is a lack of appreciation by many younger people for their own culture, for the roots from which they have sprung. Traditional stories are often no longer passed on and some parents(wishing to be modern at all costs(do not bother to teach their language to their children, thus cutting off communication links between them and their grandparents.Having worked hard all their lives, older people need justice, not charity. But they also need love and respect. The generation gap is there. However, it can be made smaller by our attitude towards those who have preceded us. We all hope to arrive at "a ripe old age" one day. How we would like to be treated then should affect our attitude and concern for the older people in our midst now. * On the 18th of April 1995 the United Nations adopted a resolution accepting the term "older people" rather than "elderly" as the preferred term for designating this section of the population. This term has therefore generally been used in this article.
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