For the last 10 years of my life, I have lived in a small one room apartment. It’s located in a 10 story block building, and each floor has 20 tiny apartments. Each apartment is smaller than many peoples’ wardrobe closets, or bedrooms, in foreign countries.
On one floor, I have a neighbor; she is a senior lady who lives alone. She has no relatives, and no companion. She receives a small retirement subsidy, which isn’t enough to pay for even the most basic food and drink. Her other bills and the expensive medicine that keeps her alive are “luxuries” she sometimes must go without.…
But she has some hope, some comfort, because of small acts of incredible kindness and generosity. This senior lady knows that at least once a month, another local lady will come in an ambulance offering her a little free medicine. My neighbor moves with tremendous difficulty. She relies on other people to help her with grocery shopping. Even just to get away from her cramped apartment for a breath of fresh air requires the assistance and generosity of another.
Yet she never complains. To many people her life may seem terrible, and hopeless. But she continues to live on with dignity…
One day, I was shocked to find out that every evening, this elderly woman was forced to keep the lights off even when darkness crept across our city. Why? Because she couldn’t afford to pay for the electric bill. She literally lived most of her days without light. This lady suffers especially in winter, when the days are short, and the nights are so long, dark and cold.
Still she does not protest, even as she sits alone in the silence and the black, with only her thoughts to give her comfort.
She is not alone. Far from it. Many thousands of our seniors struggle just to subsist from one day to the next. Many suffer depression, aggravating their already fragile health. It is the hardest for those seniors who have no children, no relatives, or no family nearby. They need help, compassion, and joy in their lives. Yet it never comes. They suffer in silence, with zero expectation for their tomorrow…
I’ve always believed that we owe our parents. As they raised and cared for us, so it is our duty to ensure the elderly are taken care of with love and respect until their final days. Seeing the misery, neglect, and desperation with which so many seniors in Romania are forced to face alone, I had to take action.
I decided to connect ROLDA’s rescue mission with a project to provide companionship, and joy to make these deserving peoples’ lives brighter.
I can’t give them money, I can’t make them young again …but using the power of the unconditional love that animals are capable of, ROLDA’s animals, we CAN help them. Our seniors deserve our commitment to make their last years brighter, and happier. They’ve earned it, and we all have benefited from their sacrifices and hard work. The special care and gifts our parents, grandparents and elders gave to us as children we can return to them in their old age. We can bring a smile to their faces, warmth to their hearts, and happy thoughts to their heads.
My father didn’t live long enough to see this project come to life, and experience the happiness it would have brought him. But my mother is by my side, and I pray she will live to see all the benefits and joy it brings to other seniors. The Pawzup project will allow her and other seniors a safe place to socialize with each other, our rescued animals, and our volunteers and staff.
What could be more wonderful than bringing light and love to our senior community? Doing it with the help of our rescued animals, of course!
There will not be only cats and dogs, but also small goats, chickens, and other animals which the senior volunteers can look after if their health permits. We hope to create an organic community garden space where people can gather and work outside. Or they can simply spend time with their fellow elders, getting to know and support each other at the Pawzup Center. Of course, they will always be supported and supervised by our team. We would never leave them alone, or let them do the heavy lifting!
Please read more about our Pawzup Project; it is the first of its kind in Romania. It is a pioneer project where rescued animals saved from certain death will save our seniors from the sadness of living their final days alone.
Devoid of the compassion, companionship, and care that they so much deserve. Our seniors are someone’s mother, someone’s father, someone’s sister or brother for whom we all have a duty to care for. Please help us complete this important project to better the lives of abandoned people AND pets. Every senior citizen should be enabled to live their life to the fullest. Even until their very last day….
Thank you from all of us at ROLDA, and the many communities we serve.
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