Elderly parents dying from loneliness

Majority of elderly parents are dying in rural communities as a result of being abandoned by the children, an official with a local Non-Government Organization (NGO) has said.
Mr Ronald Kalele, the Board chairman Kwambuka Integrated organization [KIO], said that even in the old age people deserves a dignified life but this isn’t the case in the rural communities in Budaka District.

“These elderly parents are abandoned by the caretakers or children who have migrated to urban centres leaving these elderly to grapple with problems such as debilitating diseases, visual and hearing impairment, loneliness, inability to perform certain tasks on their own and poverty,” Mr Kalele said.

Mr Kalele said this during the end of year Christmas party organized for the elderly parents in Kamonkoli Sub-county, organized by KIO.

He said that the pension system benefits only those who served in civil service and these are a minority. Those who did not work with the government can only look to their children and relatives for support. Yet the traditional informal system in which the communities looked after the elderly is gradually dying out.

He explained that the elderly parents shouldn’t not be seen simply as people who need charity. “These are people who have a wealth of knowledge and experience which, it tapped by the younger people, can help in national development. Its high time, we pay more attention on how we should take care of the elderly among us than abandoning them to suffer to the extent that elderly persons begin to regret as to why they are still on earth,” Mr Kalele said

The elderly persons drawn from Kamonkoli, Mugiti sub counties numbering about 300 were each given a Christmas goodies comprising of sugar, soap, beans, rice, meat and Shs10, 000 for this festive season.

The elderly people were also given health tips on how to stay fit by avoiding eating fatty foods during Christmas day celebrations.
“There is a tendency for people to over-eat fatty foods thinking it’s the way to go. That is wrong. Let’s eat balanced food mostly greens and fruits,”Mr Micheal Namani, a health officer told the older persons.
He also noted that elderly people tend to dodge bathing, washing and brushing their teeth, as some of the factors that reduce on their lifespan.

The Kamonkoli LC3 chairman, Mr Benard Mugoda, said that situation in rural areas is extremely worrying that elder persons [parents] have been abandoned, thus leaving them to grapple with this hostile environment.
“This generation has left the elder parents alone. This has created the situation to worsen on the side of the elderly persons,” he said.