Feature
Social/General

By Frazer Potani, Lilongwe, Malawi

It is not a secret that he is an elderly person with children and grand children.
Everyone even knows that he celebrated his 76th Birth Day just some months ago!

But despite being an elderly person himself, he recently changed his usual office attire (a suit) at the New State House in Lilongwe and put on a sporting, casual dressing.

Yes! President Bingu wa Mutharika recently diverted from his official duties and invaded Lilongwe Golf Club’s Golf Course and teed-off as a crowd watched to fund raise for his Silver Gray Foundation to make a difference in the lives of the elderly in Malawi.

This was not the first time for the President to tee off and on several occasions he has said that he tees not just to exercise, relax and entertain people as well as interact with sportsmen in Malawi but raise funds for the elderly.

“The main aim of this event is to sensitize the general public in this country on some activities of the Silver Gray Foundation so that many can venture into taking care for the elderly,” he said adding, “The number of the elderly persons in Malawi is so large and it is our responsibility to care for them.”

Just few years ago Mutharika explained that he was even touched by a 112-year-old woman in Ntcheu who, instead of being cared for in her old age was shouldering a responsibility of taking care of her great grand children.

In Malawi the elderly remain forgotten as many Non-Governmental-Organizations (NGOs) are paying their attention to vulnerable women and children.

To intensify attention for the elderly in Malawi Mutharika founded the Silver Gray Foundation whose slogan is ‘Life Begins at 60’.

The President said his administration and its partners are aware of the problems faced by the elderly, therefore doing all they can to improve their welfare and appealed to all the people in Malawi to respect, love and care for the elderly.

“Ageing is not a sin but a blessing for a life well lived. With HIV and AIDS living beyond 60 is a blessing,” said Mutharika adding that the country is burying many young people than before.

“Ageing,” therefore, the President said, “Is a sign that you have managed to take care of yourself”

Community of Saint’ Egidio’s president Marco Impagliazzo said he was pleased with Mutharika and his administration for laying down strategies meant to support the elderly in the country.

“The number of the elderly is increasing worldwide but the attention to their problems is minimal. There is even a contradiction in the health policies that strive to make people live longer and yet they fail to put in place policies that support the elderly to hospital,” said Impagliazzo.

Recognizing that Malawi Government alone cannot manage to fulfill the improvement of the welfare of the elderly the Silver Gray Foundation is complementing efforts meant to give hope and support to the elderly in the country.

The foundation even recognizes that the elderly have been playing great roles in the country’s social-economic development at all levels.

It was even in recognition of this that few years ago, the foundation requested all the elderly with skills in the country to file them to the organization.

Malawi is incomplete without the existence of the elderly because during their productive years they had bore children, raised and educated them, therefore, having lost their energy themselves have to be loved and cared for with support from elsewhere.

Even after growing old, the elderly contribute a lot to Malawi’s society before their dying as they act as advisors and counselors to the youth on social and sexual morals, some work as traditional healers hence contributing to health.

The elderly also organize and direct funerals, promote peace by resolving conflicts in communities.

They further contribute to wise counsels on selection of prospective successive chiefs including those already on thrones.

Several researches by international organizations such as the World Bank reveals that social problems including poverty in sub-Saharan African countries like Malawi affect more women and children than men.

To sample living conditions for the elderly in Malawi the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) conducted a study at Chancellor College of the University of Malawi (Unima) through researcher John Kadzandira.

And Kadzandira’s findings revealed that most of the elderly in Malawi are denied social services.

The revelations came after a sample study which was done in Zomba between December 2006 and April 2007.

The research also uncovered that just 58 in every 100 elderly men and 56 in every 100 elderly women were engaged in agricultural activities and reportedly received coupons for the much touted subsidized fertilizer during the 2006/07 agricultural season.

The study also indicated that most of the few existing organizations targeting the elderly operating in Malawi including government officials had not visited the elderly in their respective areas a year earlier before the study itself.

“In general the study shows that the elderly are in huge problems and that most of the young people are not in a position to support them due to economic pressure,” said Kadzandira.

He added that the migration of the youth from Malawi’s rural to urban areas in search of greener pastures was even infringing a lot of pain on the elderly because the youth also fall in energetic bracket workforce in rural areas’ sectors including agricultural production.

According to Kadzandira traditionally, the elderly are taken care of by their descendants.

“But due to HIV and AIDS and that more energetic young people are leaving rural areas to become more educated and live in towns and cities, there is no one to look for the elderly including even when they fall sick,” he said adding that the elderly also easily lose property and power they had due to ageing.

“The elderly are falling victims to land and property grabbing, have no access to good food, quality housing, healthcare and sanitation and this is leading them to early deaths yet they could live longer if provided with adequate, good nutrition, medical care and overall support and impart the knowledge and experience they acquired while productive to the next generations,” said Kadzandira.

In another research by S. Jonasi during fifth year as a Medical Student at the College of Medicine in Blantyre revealed that grandparents are family members that form an important element of the extended family.

“In traditional cultures, grandparents often have a direct and clear role in relation to
the care and nurture of children. This has tended to be lost with the development of the nuclear family. In cases where the parents are not willing or unable to provide adequate care for their children, grandparents may take on the role of primary caregivers. In traditional East Asian cultures influenced by Confucianism, filial piety is one of the highest moral values,” said Jonasi.

The student further said grandparents usually exercise their authority on family matters and their descendants should obey their seniors however, this kind of structure gradually eases with the increasing influence of western culture and the increasing number of nuclear families.

Jonasi further explained that grandmothers also played a great role as Primary Care Givers in families.

“Grandmothers have a prominent and influential role within the family and are commonly in charge of child rearing when the mother is employed, sick or more commonly in our setting, orphaned due to the HIV and AIDS pandemic. They
are often forced to resume the role of primary caregivers and it usually creates a financial constraint on them especially when the size of the family left behind is huge. It is even worse when the grandmother is a widow,” said Jonasi.

The researcher gave an example of many children that were malnourished requiring admission to the Nutrition Rehabilitation Unit in Malawi.

“Most of them were orphans being cared for by grandparents. In April 2007, a grandmother was found selling Chiponde (peanut butter) feeds on the QECH[Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre] wards, after obtaining them for a grandchild from the Moyo house,” said Jonasi adding,.” This is a pathetic situation and displays the level of desperation that the new responsibility can cause."

The student said it was possible that there were more children who needed food at home and the old woman needed to raise funds in order to feed them as well.

“Older people caring for their dying children and orphaned grandchildren, especially those who are HIV-positive themselves, suffer from shame, fear and anxiety. Social isolation reduces their access to health services such as home visits and prevents them from using protective measures such as wearing gloves when caring for their sick grand children or relatives,” said the researcher.

Jonasi further disclosed that some researchers also discovered in another study that in HIV affected households run by older people, they are forced to abandon income-generation activities in order to take care of their grandchildren, making it difficult to pay for food, water, health care and education costs, which are four to fivetimes higher than the household income.

Jean Kautale, a 40-year-old sales clerk with one of the retail chain store giants in Lilongwe said long time ago in Malawi there used to be a strong bond between the elderly and their children, grand children and even great grand children.

“During those days the little ones would sit round a fire place with either a grandmother or grandfather and listen to tales that were passed from generations to generations to impart wisdom and good manners to the young ones,” she said.

Kautale added: “Those days are however, gone in this country as the elderly are now abandoned because are suspected of teaching witchcraft skills to children. I for one I miss my grandmother. She played a very great role in my life unfortunately she died in 2007 and May Her Soul Rest In Peace.”

Globally, the FAO) says majority of elderly people across the world are most vulnerable to social pains such as poverty and live in poor sub-standard houses including verbally and physically abused.

The organization says most of the elderly have no property such as livestock, a bicycle, mosquito net and cannot afford two meals and water a day and water.

It further says the elderly have no voice but make over 50 in every 100 of care givers for the sick in hospitals in poor developing countries on the globe.

“Studies done in Zambia, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Thailand have indicated that over half of the care givers for the sick in hospitals and homes are old people between 60 and 85 years old,” says the study paper.

It was therefore, possible that to revive the interaction between the elderly and children, grand children and great grand children in Malawi Mutharika removed his jacket, shirt and necktie at the country's House Number one (New State House in Lilongwe) to tee off recently at Lilongwe Golf Club's green golf course so that the elderly themselves also receive love, care and support at all levels!

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