{"id":10304,"date":"2018-10-02T07:14:23","date_gmt":"2018-10-02T07:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/?p=10304"},"modified":"2018-10-04T07:23:20","modified_gmt":"2018-10-04T07:23:20","slug":"sheltering-centers-of-old-people-in-difficulties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/sheltering-centers-of-old-people-in-difficulties\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheltering centers of old people in difficulties"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the World celebrates the Old People Day, on every 1 October, Burundian centers sheltering old people plead for more support. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Old

Old people claim to be supported in food, clothes and medicines<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cAuspice Sainte Elisabeth\u201d Center, one of the centers of old people in the capital Bujumbura, shelters 46 old people including 30 old women and 16 men. Nun Colette Murimbane, responsible for the center says the majority doesn\u2019t have any member of family. \u201cWe try to offer them all essential needs even if it is not easy\u201d, she says. She also says the beneficiaries have different problems and suffer from different diseases. \u201cNot only, are they old, but also, they suffer from diseases which have to be treated by specialists\u201d says Nun Murimbane.<\/p>\n

She says the Ministry of Social Affairs supports old people in health issues but the center must physically present them to the ministry. \u201cI prefer to go to the hospital instead of spending much time waiting for the authorization\u201d, she says adding that minor issues are treated at the center given that she is herself a nurse.<\/p>\n

Some humanitarian organizations and people support the center. \u201cWorld Food Program previously provided food assistance to the center but it has stopped since January 2018 for unknown motives\u201d, says the nun. Iwacu has tried to contact WFP for more details in vain.<\/p>\n

According to Nun Murimbane, the ministry of Social Affairs only pays water charges but it gives an amount of BIF 900,000 per year to the center. \u201cIt is not sufficient for old people who need special care, treatment and food\u201d, she says adding that arable lands may help the center have special food according to their age.<\/p>\n

Cyrille-Fresh Isirahenda, legal representative of another center \u201cFamily which receives old people and orphans\u201d, says his center shelters 12 people including seven men and five women. \u201cWe provide them with material, social assistance and juridical supervision\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n

For having lived for a long time with old people, Isirahenda says he knows their needs. \u201cI only use my salary and my spouse\u2019s pay to satisfy their essential needs\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n

The ministry of Social Affairs has already assisted the center with one tone of rice in 2017 \u201c but thanks to Caritas \u201cCath\u00e9drale\u201d, we get one bag of rice and another one of beans after every three months,\u201d he says. For him, if he receives enough money he can erect a house that would allow him to shelter many old people as possible.<\/p>\n

Martin Nivyabandi, Minister of Human Rights, Gender and Social Affairs, says conventions and partnerships between Burundi government and centers as well as associations sheltering old people have been established. \u201cThis allows them to receive the annual subsides, payment of water and electricity invoice and enjoy the exemption of goods and services from abroad\u201d says the Minister.<\/p>\n

In 2012, Burundi government has also established a national policy of social protection for more care of vulnerable people including old people. \u201cThe recent National Development Plan also considers old people in its implementation\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the World celebrates the Old People Day, on every 1 October, Burundian centers sheltering old people plead for more support. \u201cAuspice Sainte Elisabeth\u201d Center, one of the centers of old people in the capital Bujumbura, shelters 46 old people including 30 old women and 16 men. Nun Colette Murimbane, responsible for the center says […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":10307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21,670],"tags":[90,108],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10304"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10304"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10308,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10304\/revisions\/10308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}