APPEAL

:: Afiyaat - the senior citizens club ::

Family systems and moral values are dispersing. Children are running away from their responsibilities to take care of their parents when they grow old

Ayesha Tariq Khan

Parents are the biggest asset in our life. Their main purpose is to see their children settled. Therefore, children also have a major responsibility towards them as they grow old.

The government of Pakistan also has made an effort to take care of such neglected parents. These parents are either those with no children or in other cases, with children neglecting their responsibilities. The government has provided them with Old-Home facilities but, sadly their children don’t allow them to avail this opportunity either. The senior citizens club has been established in Lahore since 1970. We claim that we have very strong morals and values but, its shocking to hear what is happening in an institution like Afiyaat.

Last year in April 2006, Mrs Bushra Rehman asked the Ministry of Social Welfare to address the problems faced by the senior citizens of the country. The senior citizens are the most vulnerable segments of our society and need to be taken care of properly. The idea was to increase awareness of this problem through the media so that people who are inclined towards doing social work can contribute to this cause.

Unfortunately our history records prove that our decision makers have this habit of making decisions but, not implementing them properly. This is what is happening at Afiyaat. Providing a roof and three meals a day for these homeless people is not the only thing this institution is supposed to be doing, as it claims not to be just a shelter for the homeless. The idea is to give the senior citizens of our society a place as comfortable as their own homes and make them productive members of this society. It’s appalling that even the staff refers to the residents as ‘inmates’ which is very insulting. It sounds as if they are referring to people in a prison. Furthermore, we do not want them to live there just waiting for their time to come; our duty is to make things better for them. Umang, another NGO working for the welfare of the senior citizens, has put in a lot of effort to improve the quality of life of these senior citizens, but it seems the management of the institution does not want that. They were requested to serve the meals properly using good crockery that had been donated to them but, to no avail. They have a weekly menu, which is made according to the food requirement of aged people, as they need to follow a set diet pattern so that their health doesn’t deteriorate, but this is another aspect that is being neglected. These senior citizens belong to good families and are respectable people they need their due respect. Cleanliness is another major problem in the premises of Afiyaat. Upon entering any of the rooms you can smell the bad odour and the washrooms are stinking and filthy, which gives the impression that they haven’t been washed for ages.

Afiyaat is a government run organization that is trying to work for the welfare of the senior citizens. They get donations on a regular basis, but there is no transparency regarding utilization of these funds and whenever enquiries are made regarding the donations, the administration doesn’t respond. The institute has a grossly insufficient number of nurses. There is one nurse who has been attached with Afiyaat for the past 25 years and wants to retire now, as she is also very sick. The women’s section specially requires nurses. There are two disabled women in this section who need attention. One of them Jamila Bibi is suffering from kidney failure and needs to get her pamper changed on time but, unfortunately there is no one there to do it for her and she has to remain in that neglected condition for periods as long as one week. Mrs Fakhra Altaf, an advisory member hired a female attendant personally to help Jamila Bibi.

Mrs Nighat, has been transferred from Sargodha to take charge of the institution but, she doesn’t have any past experience of taking care of senior citizens, as she was attached with the orphanages, street children and vocational institutes. The government gives them an annual budget of Rs 23.5 lakhs out of which they give Rs 22 per day to each inhabitant for food and Rs 4 for their medicines. Thus, all the expenses are rationed in this manner. Is it possible to itemize different people’s requirements so uniformly?

The people living in Afiyaat require a clean environment and proper medical. Presently, Afiyaat has 14 members on their staff, which insufficient as it is but, the sight of the place is simply despicable. This shows the utter neglect of the management.

If someone living in an organization that promises them medical care has to call an ambulance themselves for an emergency, then what is the use of living there? Mrs Bokhari who is a blind lady had to call 1122 in the middle of the night because there was no attendant present when she needed an ambulance. Even when the ambulance arrived it had to wait outside the premises for nearly 20 minutes as no one was on duty at the gate either. These are the questions that need to be answered.

The volunteers attached with Umang organization have been working there for the past four years and are mostly young people. They organise regular gatherings for the residents at Afiyaat. Ms Ayesha Siddiq, an MBA student commented, “It was very shocking for me to see such a place, I could not believe that people could be so stonehearted regarding their own parents.” It is great to see young people coming out and joining the social welfare sector, because that is the most neglected aspect of our society. The President of Umang, Mrs Ishrat Aliya told us, “The people residing in Afiyaat should be given some kind of outlet so that they can utilise their skills to do something useful rather then wasting themselves.” She also said that, “We had designed a project to help and develop their skills, which would keep them busy but, again to no avail. The social welfare department did not acknowledge any of the efforts we did and the application was never processed due to the incompetence of their internal management.” The government wants to create a civic sense among citizens so that they develop a concept of voluntarily working for such charitable organizations but, how can it be possible to achieve this when the administrators themselves do not want this to happen.

I have been trying to work voluntarily with Afiyaat for the last four years but, due to the administration I’ve been faced with a lot of obstacles, which have disheartened me to an extent. Even other volunteers are not given complete access to enable them to contribute properly, which has led them to run away. Institutions like Afiyaat are needed in all societies of the world but, in other countries such a charitable cause is undertaken in a more organised manner by using the expertise of people who are dedicated and have a genuine flare for the welfare of senior citizens.