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Old Is Gold (OIG) Care For The Elderly

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Old Is Gold (OIG) Care For The Elderly

The Old is Gold program was born out of a specific situation arising from the current Covid’19 pandemic when the students discovered that many elders in rural communities were in dire need and had no one to help them. This involves taking care of their personal needs, including providing desperately needed food, taking care of their health needs, and bringing joy and love into the elder’s lives by organizing a variety of programs. Currently there are 127 elders being cared for by the students and Old is Gold Volunteer Groups.

OUR STORY

On Monday April 6th, 2020, the Spiritan Self Awareness Initiative (SSAI) started the distribution of food items to poor families all over Enugu State in response to COVID 19 pandemic. When they arrived at Josephat's house in Ameke Ngwo in Udi LGA and gave him the food item, he was surprised that some people came to visit him. He never thought of receiving care because people rarely visit him.

Josephat Ude is an 88year old man. He is partially blind with other old age health related issues. He had no family and he lives alone in a borrowed room. His wife and only child left him 38 years ago. Presently he lives under the mercy of people who drop in to give him food from time to time as he cannot cook by himself. Sometimes, he stays for days without food. After we visited him, Josephat said to himself "I must meet this Father Charles Ogada who gave me all these food items to show my gratitude".

Father Charles Ogada and The Heart of Love Children were touched by Elder Josephat's visit of gratitude. From that day, the children decided to start a project called 'Old is Gold Care for the Elderly (OIG) to take care of the needy old people.

Food Distribution to Needy Families Part 1
Food Distribution to Needy Families Part 2

OUR MISSION


1. Care for the Old: It is the responsibility of the child to take care of the parents especially at their old age. All needy grand pa (GP) and grand ma (GM) are our parents. OIG will take care of old and needy parents who have no one to take care of them in the following ways:
  • a. Taking care of their personal and environmental hygiene.
  • b. Making sure that they are properly fed with nutritious food.
  • c. Bringing love, Joy and happiness into their lives by organizing programs such as "Play with the Old", "Tell me a Story" and "Dance with me".
  • d. Taking care of their health needs.
  • e. Preparing them to embrace the inevitability of death through passage rites. The greatest gift to an old person and indeed to humanity is when he/ she leaves the world happily and joins the home of ancestors. Only then can he be welcome in the home of ancestors. It is the responsibility of the OIG to make sure that our GP and GM die happily.

2. Making the old feel relevant to the society through:
  • a. Harnessing their spiritual strength - praying for the good and welfare of the world.
  • b. Harnessing and sharing with the young the wealth of their lived experiences.
  • c. Transferring the ancient traditions of the land encoded in stories, proverbs and herbal knowledge. .
  • d. Engaging them in productive skills such as basket weaving, broom making, cloth knitting and seed processing.