In this area there is no help for the elderly except family. If you do not have a family, you have a problem. Our home is starting a little project to help these type of people.
There are a couple of women who are in their 60's (but look like they are in their 90's) who live nearby our home has helped for years. The women live in a small bamboo shack with no electricity and no water except for the rain water that rolls off their roof into a rusting drum. They can not use one of their two bedrooms because the bamboo floor has broken from age. Their dog is vicious, so they tie it up in the house. Consequently, the floor is stained and stinks with dog urine. They have no toilet, so they go to the bathroom in a hole about 10 yards from the home. To cap it off, one woman is suffering with TB and the other is very sick but will not go to the hospital because she is afraid to leave her home because of some unspeakable violence she suffered a year ago.
Today, I met with them along with a man and a woman from our home. We introduced ourselves and when the woman from our home said this man is Karen (an ethnic minority in the area) the old lady had a big smile. Traditions run deep and people trust people from their own groups. They woman gave me a seat of honor, an empty clean rice bag to sit on (there are no chairs of course). They wanted us to help them with their home. When the lady said, "It would be so nice if we had our own well. It does not need any electricity or anything special. It is hard to say no to such an old fragile woman, so we did not. With the assistance of a donor, we are going to build them a new bamboo house, a proper bathroom and a well. It costs less than $150.
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