Lut, 87, is a member of an older people’s association from Battambang, Cambodia. She lives alone but has found a new family through her association.

Exumeni is a 67-year-old widow from Port-au-Prince. She has no children. Her house was destroyed by the earthquake and she moved into a tent. Her tent collapsed and now she is staying with a neighbour and her family in their tent. “My neighbour and her four children sleep on the bed and I sleep on the floor on a pile of clothes. I don’t know when I will get my own shelter again,” she says.

Maria Gabriela, 90, from Rio de Janeiro is one older person who has noticed the difference the law has made. "The situation has changed for older people since the law was approved,” she says. “The law has given us strength to complain about things that were wrong. Now we are supported by the law. We can demand our rights.”

Tony Fitzpatrick, 86, has lived in Dublin, Ireland all his life. His pension has allowed him to pay off his mortgage and buy a house for his daughter and grandson.

Dum Ream, 72, from Cambodia sells rice noodles to support three grandchildren who were left behind after her son died and her daughter-in law remarried. “It is very difficult for someone older like me to look after young kids, but they are my grandchildren so I had to take this challenge on,” she says.

Pu Guonu, 75 lives alone in Shaanxi province. She grows and prepares her own food. She has a small vegetable patch behind her house where she grows beans and tomatoes and keeps two chickens. She says that losing her husband after 61 years of marriage was one of the hardest things ever for her. She finds being alone very tough, particularly as she doesn't have children.

Nyamizi, a 73-year-old widow from Sukumaland, Tanzania, was returning home one night from work when a man came running towards her with a machete. He chopped off her hand and slashed her head. She says, "I didn't get justice because I couldn't pay for it. No one takes action for those who are poor,". HelpAge has been working with partners in Sukumaland since 1999 to reduce witchcraft allegations and violence against older women.