People in India have flocked to cities in search of better, higher paying jobs. This urbanization has led to the breakdown of the traditional practice of living with extended family. The nuclear-family-household trend has held unforeseen consequences for the country’s elderly. They are often left uncared for and have difficulty caring for themselves, especially when they fall ill. Heifer India Country Director Avni Malhotra shares how Heifer recipients are working to care for elderly residents in need in their communities.
Photo by Brigette Lacombe, courtesy of Heifer International.
This article is really so touching! I’ve worked in a non-government organization before, catering women, children and elderly that’s why I’m very much amazed of stories such as this. These people need love and care. Thanks to some organizations like Heifer!
je suis un tchadien, je voulais vraiment me renseigner sur les activités de heifer, puis que mon pays a besoin des organisation comme ça pour résoudre un peu le problème de la pauvre.
Translation (via Google Translate): I’m (from) Chad, I really wanted to learn about the activities of heifer and that my country needs organization like that to solve a little problem of the poor.
It’s good to know that there are also non-profit organizations in India that takes care of people who are in need of long term care. It’s true that people in the said country prefer to go to cities to work leaving their extended family back home. The tendency is, they grow old in their new home without someone who can look after them once they’ve reached the age that they will need extended care. It’s really heartbreaking when this happen because they are old, weak and helpless.
Heifer families have done a great job in looking after seniors who don’t have relatives to rely on and money to pay for people who can take care of them. It’s like a community service that is entirely focused on the welfare of the elderly, making sure that they are given proper attention and care. I just hope more communities will get into this practice and help seniors who are in need of extended care. Just like what’s happening in the United States, the elderly have myriad of ltc options which they can greatly benefit from at a nominal price, through ltci or by means of federal funded programs such as community services and board and housing.
More organizations should join this cause and guarantee a comfortable retirement life for seniors, not just in India or United States but as well as in every part of the world that has seniors who need help in doing their daily living activities.
Great job for this non-profit organization for taking care of people in India who needs extended care. This is very timely because the older population are becoming much bigger, thus more people will need long term care. It’s much harder for them because they are far from their loved ones. So it’s a good thing that there are Heifer families that look after these seniors and take care of them. Keep up the good work!
It is nice to know that there are organizations who show compassion to the elderly and help them with their daily living activities and in other ways when there’s no one to take care of them. I just hope that more people will hear of this and support this organization, so that they will have enough funds or new staff to carry out this act of kindness. I commend those people who are behind this organization, for making these seniors their priority, making sure that they are getting all the help they need and the right care they need.