SIXTY elderly men and women who are primarily from the West Coast of Demerara were on Saturday honoured at the CIOG Headquarters on Woolford Avenue in Georgetown to mark International Day of Older Persons.Speaking at the event, Social Protection Minister Volda Lawrence said that, as a nation, we must “take a stand against ageism” as the theme for this month charges. This ‘ageism’, she explained, is the stereotyping and discrimination of a person based on their age.

She noted that, in Guyana as well as in the rest of the world, the trend of young people not respecting their elders enough has become more and more prevalent. “Who has taught our young persons to lose respect for our elders?” she questioned. “Elders are treated as outcasts and humbugs…not only in the family, but in society,” she stated.

In combatting the phenomenon of elderly persons not being given the respect they deserve, the Minister said that through the National Commission of the Elderly, the Ministry will be “reaching out” to the young people. One strategy that will be employed, she said, is engaging with the Ministry of Education in 2017 to use young people to provide care to the elderly in homes.

Here, she said, a system of “credit” for community work can be established to encourage this.

Though she said her ministry would seek to establish a “new, modern facility” for elderly persons,
Ms. Lawrence also said that her Ministry and the Commission would work with the family to “keep the elderly in their homes.”

Sheik Moeen Hack of the Central Islamic Organisation also spoke at the forum, stating that the elderly should be respected and there must be recognition of the contributions they had made during their younger years.

Held at the CIOG Headquarters on Woolford Avenue, Georgetown, the programme was organized by the National Commission of the Elderly and the Ministry of Social Protection, in collaboration with the National Committee of Sisters’ Affairs’ (NACOSA) Love and Respect the Elderly project.

The event was the first to be held as Guyana observes a month-long period of activities to honour the elderly.