One month after the flooding in Pakistan began, HelpAge International’s Pakistan programme manager Asma Akbar sends her latest update:

“People are starting to migrate and go back to their homes now. They are trying to go back as they feel much safer.

“Floodwaters continue to flow through Sind and Punjab but where HelpAge is working, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (PKP) province, conditions are better. The water is not flowing through and has stopped moving. However this brings its own problems as standing water can cause disease.

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Margaret Chilcott (pictured right), 62, is an Emergency Programme Coordinator for HelpAge International:

“Why, at 62, am I still in humanitarian aid work? I guess the simple answer is that I can.

“I am still active, can keep up with the pace and am still learning every time I go to another country. There are many advantages in being an older humanitarian aid worker. 

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When HelpAge proposed the idea of a radio programme for older people to Father Jean (pictured), he jumped at the idea. It was obvious from the start that Radio Soleil and HelpAge had the same aim: giving a voice to the voiceless. 

Having studied communication in Italy, Father Jean became the director of Radio Soleil in 2003. He launched his first programme called “Camionette Soleil” or Sunsine Van, soon after. 

He was in the middle of broadcasting a series about the contrast between living in the city or countryside when the 12 January earthquake struck.

Breaking the isolation older people face

After the disaster, Father Jean built the radio station back up, with the most vulnerable in mind. He started by broadcasting from a van (pictured below), as the radio station building was destroyed in the earthquake. He said: “The situation of older people before the earthquake was already difficult, but after it became catastrophic.”
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Asma Akbar is HelpAge’s Country Programme Manager for Pakistan. 

Since the floods, she has visited Nowshera District, one of the worst affected regions, to assess the needs of older people, like Nabi Bakash, 64, pictured here:

“We’ve spoken to so many older people over the last few days.

“Nazgina Begum, 71, has no shelter or food and his shop was totally destroyed. Tahseen Ulah, a 68-year-old retired accountant was still seeking food after four days in a makeshift camp that had no water or sanitation facilities. His home was swept away along with his cows, his main source of income.
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Asma Akbar (pictured right), HelpAge’s Country Programme Manager for Pakistan, along with Project Coordinator Mahmood Ahmed have visited Nowshera District in Pakistan, one of the regions worst affected by the recent floods, to assess the needs of the region’s older people.

At the moment, we are estimating that up to 200,000 older people have been affected by Pakistan’s worst floods in 80 years. However, the number could be a lot higher. We have been out to some of the worst affected areas to talk to the older people and see how they are coping

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On Sunday 25 July, HelpAge International Haiti launched the radio show “Koze Granmoun, Pawòl Timoun” (or “Older people’s chatter, children’s discussions”), on Radio Soleil (105.7 FM).

Through the show, we want the general public and humanitarian organisations to become familiar with the issues older people face.

Co-hosted by children and adults who receive older people as guests, “Koze Granmoun, Pawòl Timoun” addresses different topics concerning older people and looks to contradict certain stereotypes.

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Asma Akbar (left), HelpAge’s Country Programme Manager for Pakistan, has the latest update on the situation after the devastating Pakistan floods:

“I was in Jalazi camp today with Merlin and things there were not so bad. But in Nowshera things are really very, very bad.

“Food is the top, top priority. People are sitting there staring, clearly stunned and shocked. They are completely disorientated.

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As we organised Mother’s Day and Father’s Day actiivites for older people in Haiti, I realised how little time is given to them for the rest of the year. It is like they no longer exist.

Older people live with the burden of isolation, psychological distress, health problems and family responsibilities every day.

During a tragedy like the 12 January earthquake, we often think of women, children or handicapped people but we forget and generally neglect the fate of older people.

Furthermore the government and different humanitarian actors in the field know very little about older people’s needs.

A voice to share their experience

Mostly, older people want to play an active role in society. After the quake, older people said clearly that they did not want to be spectators, but wanted to be active in the reconstruction of their country.

Because of this, they had to be given a voice. A voice that will help their real needs be known. A voice to express their aspirations. A voice to share their experience, which will help rebuild Haiti. But how do we give them this voice?

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Six months on from the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti, the UK Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) has released a series of videos showing the work that has been done with the money raised by the public.

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Six months on from the devastating earthquake, life for older people in Haiti’s temporary camps is still tough.

HelpAge International in Haiti has been speaking to groups of older people in camps located in Carrefour, Cite Soleil, Delmas,  and Petion-Ville. 

We want to collect more information about their living conditions and their views on what it would take to get back on their feet again. 

Not surprisingly, their main desire is to leave the camps. They spoke of their discomfort, the conditions, attitudes towards them from younger residents and in some cases, the fact that they are excluded from distributions of humanitarian assistance.

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