ER 5 - ELDERLY CARE IN HALIB MENTEL
Project Location
Halib Mentel is one of the villages in the Anseba region where in 1982 the Comboni Missionary Sisters opened a Mission. The population of Halib Mentel and the other four villages where the sisters carry out their pastoral activities is 10,500 people.
Many young Eritreans have left the country or are forced to long periods of absence from home in order to perform compulsory military service, therefore there are many elderly left who are no longer able to take care of themselves. During their visits to the families the sisters perceive the growing need and try to do what they can to give support and care.
Project description
The sisters take care of the elderly of the villages: visiting them, praying with them, listening to them, encouraging and advising them. In Halib Mentel alone they take care of about 70 elderly people. Since the village is rather large and scattered, it takes about 2 hours by foot to reach them all.
Once a month they collect them at the parish to pick up by car those who can not walk, and offer them tea, coffee and some food, so that they can enjoy a moment of socialization and have the opportunity to chat, to share moments of pleasure, suffering and loneliness. On these occasions there are also educational films played with an old projector. Given the situation and the importance of these moments of sharing, we would like to buy a new one.
The proposed activities support the old people psychologically, emotionally and socially. This project also intends to deal with some elderly afflicted with urinary incontinence: for this reason, the budget provides for the purchase of special diapers.
Objectives
- To offer about 70 elderly people moments of sharing and relief
- To ensure hygiene and dignity for elderly people suffering from incontinence
Beneficiaries
Direct: about 70 elderly
Indirect: their families
Referent sister of the project: Sr. Mehret Michael
Project's costs