Songea Older Persons' Forum
Location: Songea, Tanzania
Spokesperson: Alana
About the project
Songea Older Persons’ Forum (SOPF) was set up in 2001, in response to the disintegration of the traditional family structures in Tanzania that had supported older people in the past. The Project’s aim is to improve the standard of living for vulnerable older people in the Songea area. The main difficulties facing older people are poor housing and nutrition, as well as lack of access to health services and community support.
SOPF has also been working hard to persuade the local government to provide free medical services to vulnerable older people. They are hopeful that this will happen in the near future.
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Who it helps
At the moment there are around 100 grandparents directly benefiting from this programme. The help they receive also supports their children and grandchildren. SOPF have encouraged the setting up of older people’s committees. These are made up of the older people themselves, the people who care for them and local leaders. The committees identify the people who most need to receive help.
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How it helps
The project distributes essential basic provisions to the most vulnerable older people, such as shelter, food and even soap. They are also increasingly setting up income-generation schemes, which give more active older people the opportunity to support themselves. Working increases their status in the community and restores an older person’s dignity and self-respect. An important part of the project’s work is the education of the community about the difficulties of ageing, and showing them how they can work together to overcome shared problems. They also encourage the wider community to become involved in the project’s work – for example in providing materials to enable staff to improve housing.
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Project spokesperson
Name: Alana
Date of Birth: Unknown
Alana was born in Peramiho. Her parents died while she was still young. She was married in her early twenties and had two children. However, five years later her husband left the area to find work and did not return. Alana now lives in Liwunbu where her father-in-law helped her provide for her children until his death. She is now the sole carer for her four grandchildren. Before she became part of the Songea Older Person’s Forum, Alana lived in a small hut with no door, where she slept on the floor. She was unable to afford proper clothing for herself or her family and they were often excluded from community activities.
Now, for the first time in her life, Alana has a mattress to sleep on. She has been provided with a door for her house and some basic provisions such as flour, beans and soap. She no longer feels ashamed of her situation, and enjoys gardening and poultry-keeping activities organised by the project.
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Country information
Country: Tanzania
Size: 945,090 sq km
Population: 38.4 million
Capital: Dodoma
Language: Kiswahili is the official language and English is also widely spoken.
Climate: Tanzania lies south of the Equator in East Africa. The climate is tropical along the coast, while inland the central plateau is dry and arid with cool nights, and the northwest highlands are cool and temperate.
Religion: On the mainland, 35% are Muslim, 30% Christian, while the remaining 35% hold indigenous beliefs. In Zanzibar, 99% of the population are Muslims.
Literacy: Only 77% of men and 62% of women are literate (compared to 99% in the UK) which puts everyone, particularly women, at a disadvantage.
Older people in Tanzania
There are over 2 million people aged 60 and over in Tanzania and this is expected to rise to over 7 million by 2050. Tanzania remains one of the poorest countries in the world and 50% of the population lives below the poverty line.
Poverty
Older women are particularly vulnerable and widowhood often affects them adversely as it brings about profound change to their status, stability and security. They are increasingly vulnerable to abandonment, physical attack, dispossession of and disinheritance of property. It is becoming widespread practice that women are often denied their rights to commonly held property when their husbands die. Widows in particular are vulnerable as they often lose their family’s protection and may be subject to witchcraft accusations leading to ostracism, banishment, physical attack or death. Unfortunately, they rarely report these abuses because of fear and ignorance of their rights. Their situation is further exacerbated by the burden of caring for orphaned grandchildren as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Health
Average life expectancy is shocking at just 45. The risk of infectious diseases is high, and the impact of HIV/AIDS has been severe, with 8.8 per cent of the adult population believed to be infected. This has a huge impact on older people who have lost their children and taken on the role of carers for orphaned and vulnerable children.
There is poor quality and coverage of health services in Tanzania. The majority of the population fail to seek medical attention for HIV/AIDS or for illnesses such as malaria, tuberculosis, and illnesses associated with malnutrition or old age. This is due to both a lack of cash and lack of access. Although there is free health care available to older people, many individuals and health workers do not have the information or understanding of how the exemption scheme works, so many are simply missing out on their entitlements.
Disaster
Older people suffer from poor nutrition and are particularly at risk during emergency situations and food shortages, as they tend to pass what little they have to younger family members.
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