Opinion / Columnist
Our grandparents need good care
18 Jan 2019 at 15:55hrs | Views
If the truth be told, most elderly widows and widowers are leading a lonely life despite plenty next of kin including children.
This notion is confirmed by the many cases of 'lonely deaths' of the aged either in freak fire accidents or just 'found dead' in their bedroom huts.
The most affected loners are the rural senior citizens. At most rural villages the old gogo's hut, that serves both as kitchen and bedroom is put up behind the village. The old woman is seldom seen except when attending funerals and fetching firewood for cooking and warmth.
All other days only the billowing smoke from her hut or that faint cough announces her presence. Grand children are discouraged from visiting her in the forlorn hut for fear of suspected contagious diseases or witchcraft.
Sometimes the lonely grandma or grandpa commits suicide to escape the loneliness, have we become insensitive to our grandparents? Even well to do families have forgotten their elders and one would ask why?
The grannies huts are usually dilapidated and tilted for lack of maintenance, why not build something with a semblance of comfort? In view of the aforementioned, communities of my ethnic persuasion must seriously consider placing their aged into care homes than watch their quality of life come down.
Many of these lonely elders lack balanced food. Look after old people.
Thomas Murisa. Chinehasha.
This notion is confirmed by the many cases of 'lonely deaths' of the aged either in freak fire accidents or just 'found dead' in their bedroom huts.
The most affected loners are the rural senior citizens. At most rural villages the old gogo's hut, that serves both as kitchen and bedroom is put up behind the village. The old woman is seldom seen except when attending funerals and fetching firewood for cooking and warmth.
All other days only the billowing smoke from her hut or that faint cough announces her presence. Grand children are discouraged from visiting her in the forlorn hut for fear of suspected contagious diseases or witchcraft.
The grannies huts are usually dilapidated and tilted for lack of maintenance, why not build something with a semblance of comfort? In view of the aforementioned, communities of my ethnic persuasion must seriously consider placing their aged into care homes than watch their quality of life come down.
Many of these lonely elders lack balanced food. Look after old people.
Thomas Murisa. Chinehasha.
Source - Thomas Murisa
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