Youthanasia

Euthanasia...

A group of ten Actioneers went to Gazipor , in a shelter home of olds. Team leader: Sohaila, Actioneers: Tashfia, Aurin, Pritom, Shawgat, Audry, Shaoli, Prottoy, Zarir, Zafry, Zihan, Jesin, Fahad. Following Write-up is written by an Actioneer, who was in the group. It reflects his emotion in experiencing the old home.

Visit to old home

As much as I would like to say a few something about this amazing word, I have a bus to catch next morning, so no soup for you folks. We are now in our youth, the most productive years of the human life. After a few days we would be in our seventies, old and vulnerable. It really is a mystery how everything in this world goes on in a cycle, even human life. In many ways, people revert back to childhood as they grow old. They become vulnerable and need to be looked after. They even start wearing diapers all over again.

Once he was as much young as we now ... what is he thinking? What is going on his mind? or only is waiting for Euthanasia

The only sad bit though, is that they seldom get the care as that of a new born. Maybe because they didn’t use enough moisturizer and lost their cuteness. Or maybe because they lost their youth catering to every need of their family. Whatever the reason, the elderly seldom are appreciated and taken care of in today’s urban and nuclear families. Brothers and Sisters split up the property and send the father to the old home. Hard to swallow, but these are not fictions. These incidents have started to repeat in our society, however small the magnitude.

Such is the story of Rabeya (not real name), who was forced to sell her apartment here in Dhaka by her son. The son then left her at the old home. Luckily not all the people in the old home are like Rabeya. Many have married off the daughters and sent the sons abroad. For them, the old home is a better option than living the last few days alone and in misery. They are always looking for somebody to listen to their stories. After a long life of so many decades, each and every one of them have stories to fill a library of books.

Me and my friends had the opportunity to go to such an old home and listen to the endless stories. We spent the whole day playing games with them, reading to them and chatting with them. And at last it was time for us to say goodbye. It was only a few hours but it seemed so hard to say goodbye to them.

Now let’s come back to the title. It is a clever homophone of the word Euthanasia, which means good death (eu = good; thanatos = death). In the end, all these people want is a good place to die, amongst the people they love. That’s what these old homes offer the elderly, despite their drawbacks.

By Gazi Sakir Pritom, Actioneer from Bangladesh Medical Colleg

We are being wished with warm wishes by them, during our departure.

Pritom with Nanis :)

Photo stream: