“Are the people in the box real?” Wanjiru Mwangi, estimated to be about 88 asks, pointing at the TV. We’ve been through this before. If I say yes, then she is disturbed by their size and will keep trying to fish them out by hand. If I try to explain that they are only moving images, she laughs ecstatically and continues in her line of questioning, begging a lot of patience. She’s part of the  1.6M population older people in Kenya.

 

Cucu, as she is fondly called, is also losing her memory. She has been telling and retelling stories to those who come visiting her 60-year-old daughter and care-giver for the last couple of years. But her memory isn’t the only thing that is dwindling. Her balance as she climbs the stairs is worrying, and her sense of security has worn thin since Kenya’s 2008 post election violence occurrence. But here, she has access to love and care from close kin, a balanced diet, shelter, rest and medical attention to manage her arthritis, poor eyesight and whenever she needs it.

 

In traditional African societies, elders are revered and are usually under the care of their grown children into old age and until death.In fact, as an deeply trenched adage instructs, ‘the old woman looks after the child to grow its teeth and the young one in turn looks after the old woman when she loses her teeth’. The community, in turn, is expected to take up a collective responsibility by spending time with them. For this theyget unmatched access to the human libraries that the aged have become, getting wisdom and guidance concerning social matters like marriage and life in general.

 

However, the plight of older people is changing with modernisation of societies, but there are questions that arise.

 

For modern Kenyans, who are beginning to place ageing parents in the care of a growing number of retirement homes, there are whispers about how ungrateful they must be to abscond their duty and pursue something that was unheard of a generation ago.

 

Still, rather than concern themselves with the care of their older kin, today’s African families are increasingly fragmented in pursuit of employment and better opportunities in urban areas to meet the high cost of living. Left in the rural areas, the old are expected to be self-reliant with the occasional hand out and brief visits with their children.

 

According to Dr. Isabella Aboderin of the Oxford Institute of Ageing, filial obligation to care for the elderly is combated by a combination of young people’s declining ability to provide necessary support, the notion of self-reliance and an inclination to treat these elders based on their past conduct.

 

The result, researchers claim, is an increasing proportion of older people languishing in destitution, poverty and poor health.

The Kenya poverty data shows that out of the total old persons in Kenya (1.3M), 78.6 per cent are poor with 53.2 per cent absolute poor and 25.4 per cent hardcore poor. With the retirement age in Kenya set at 55, older people lack income to access necessities including balanced meals, appropriate health services.

 

To add salt to injury, rural to urban migration of the youth and harsh statistics of orphaned children as a result of HIV& Aids leave elderly people taking on responsibilities for sick adult children, as well as fostered and orphaned young children.

 

Beyond all these, older persons in Kenya have in the recent past struggled to age actively and participate in the political, social, economic and cultural life of society due to high levels of illiteracy and general disregard.

 

 

In addressing this, the government of Kenya in 2003 introduced free primary education for all ages. For instance, Kimani Maruge, then 84 (now deceased), made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest man to start primary school. Moreover, in addition to the commitment stated in the 2010 constitution, the 2009 National Policy on Ageing and Older Persons, increased the national budgetary allocation to social protection for the elderly. This comes together with ratification of regional and international instruments in favour of the elderly. Practitioners, institutions and informal actors struggle to create a safety net for the old people: income security, access to essential health and social services are moral and political imperative in front of the erosion of communitarian relations in today’s Kenya.