“TO CARE FOR THOSE WHO ONCE CARED FOR US IS ONE OF THE HIGHEST HONOURS”
– Tia Walker
Dear senior citizen,
You have retired from the jobs that you did, you continuously miss your younger and glory days where you were head strong and body strong, the time when you tackled all obstacles without any problem. But now your mind seems to betraying you, your strength is leaving you. Yet you still keep going with the ounce of strength that you have left. Your experience, knowledge and wisdom is immensely valuable. But are you honored and respected enough for the service you rendered. Most importantly are you happy? Each day you live is becoming more and more difficult. Avoiding feelings of neglect and fear of exclusion. Exclusion from the society that you were once a promising part of.
A strenuous and a hectic life is all but a given these days. We constantly work towards hoping to lead a luxurious life forgetting the loved ones around us. More importantly forgetting the people who contributed to the society that is present today, the sheer memory of the society “Our Senior Citizens”. A senior citizen contributes immensely to the society before he or she retires. But does the society do them justice?
A life filled with laughter and happiness is all that we humbly and generously aspire to have. Happiness that stays with us till the day we leave this life.
We all consider aging as a period of decline. Because what surrounds the word elderly is incapability, loneliness, heartache, anxiety and fear. It’s never a period of life to look forward to but inevitable to everyone.
It’s a responsibility bound by moral good will that we must do our part to the elderly. To appreciate the service they so willfully rendered. Hoping perhaps one day when we come of age we won’t be crowded with feelings of loneliness and heartache.
“One person caring about another represents life’s greatest value”
– Jim Rohn
“Care. Compassion” was organized by the Rotaract Club of Faculty of Science, University of Colombo and the Interact Club of Mahanama College. It was our first project as new bees to the university and as members of the Rotaract Club of the University of Colombo, Faculty of Science. It was an eagerly awaited project as all of us freshers were waiting for the opportunity to take part in club work. The week that lead to the project day was filled with planning guided by our seniors for gathering of food and other necessary items to take to the elders’ home. The long awaited day arrived and the excitement could be seen in all of us as we gathered in the University premises to leave for the elders’ home.
We left the University in a walking path crossing our neighbor faculties to the bus halt, our seniors walked in front all unified wearing the dark blue Rotaract t shirt, one that us freshers are eagerly waiting to proudly wear one day.
An Elder’s home visit is done annually by our Rotaract club. And for this year the Borella Elders Home was chosen by the project Chair-person Rtr. Dasharna.
All of us got in to one bus. It was a short ride which took about 10 minutes. It was a very hot day and every one of us was sweating from our brows. We remember a very annoying bus conductor who relentlessly tried to move us around the bus to make space.
We enjoyed our first bus ride as members of the club. As the bus drove closer and closer to the destination, the conversations amongst us drifted from the fun note to a more serious note. Everyone took turns sharing unfortunate incidents they knew where society greatly failed to do its duty to its senior citizens, and of instances where humanity seemed absent. Conversations lead to end from “so what if it happens to us when we are old … “
It was in that moment that each of us was determined to do our responsibility to our elders.
We got off from the Borella and walked to the elder’s home.
Only male senior citizens accompanied that home. As we went in we had a sight similar to that we see at a primary school. All the elders were sitting in pairs on benches that were facing each other. There were about 20 elders there. All of them had a plate and a cup laid out in front. We couldn’t resist the feeling of loneliness we felt in the atmosphere.
It didn’t take a millisecond for our group to disperse and attend to each one of them individually. We talked for hours. It was probably one of the amazing yet most heart touching experiences we ever encountered. We were amazed at the experiences they shared with us.
We served the food that we brought with us. Preference for food goes away with age but they ate everything as we playfully forced them to.
A cricket match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh was played on this day, it was joyous to see one of the elders in particular enjoy the match with a few of our boys, it was a good example of how passion for cricket has no age limit as they talked endlessly of the glory days of Sri Lankan cricket.
It was amazing to see several elders speak in all 3 languages. Although fragile physically, their hearts were still so young. Their spirit was blooming with very story they shared.
Our eyes reflect what our heart really feels. The eyes of our elders glistened with joy as they laughed with us. It was more than each of us hoped to achieve from this project.
Towards the end of our visit we all gathered around and sang to hearts delight, they sang with us clapping along, and drumming on to their plates. It was sight to behold.
As Rotaractors and Interactors we are very passionate about community service, we will go to great lengths to make a difference. But what holds us together and makes us strong is the mutual love we have for each other. It was the height of the day when we celebrated not one but 2 of our fellow Rotaractors’ birthdays. The birthday boys for the day were Rtr. Yasas and Rtr. Harith. We sang happy birthday very loud while they held on to one knife and cut the cake. Two of the first years had the privilege of gifting the birthday presents. We shared the birthday cake amongst ourselves and the Elders.
As dusk dawned we started to make our way home. We bid good bye to the elders worshiping them. They very selflessly prayed for good health for us all. We were strangers to the elders yet we managed to build a relationship in that brief few hours to almost make saying good bye difficult.
Our experience at the Elders’ home made us reflect on how much a stranger can impact another’s life. This project was a two Way Street for us, where we could take home a warm smile and a new outlook on life.
Written by Rtr. Dilani Owitipana
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