Save the Aged

This time, our Metta Moe Myanmar had a chance to hold training at a very fascinating place. It is a private school for primary students named “Lumbini”. Although we have a quite number of international private schools, Myanmar traditional primary schools cover a very small number. “Lumbini” is one of the schools organized by one of the famous Myanmar author and it is aimed to promote the physical, mental and social development of Myanmar children. The school is a very big building and the architectural design is magnificent and it is in a very wide compound. We can hear the tweeting birds and most of the things are created as we are in a natural forest. The arrangements and ideas in both the compound and the building are very great. There is no doubt that that place is a very wonderful shadow for the children there.

We organized- five-day (16th, 23rd, 24th, 30th, 31st of Oct) training for the members from an organization called “Save the Aged”. “Save the Aged” is initiated by a group of socially-minded youths and they are actively contributing in elderly care programs which is one of the hindrance issue here and philanthropic works. After discussing in details to achieve a useful and helpful training for their members, we had an agreement to conduct training on “Introductory Counseling and Aging”.

The number of training participants was 27 in total and the proportion of woman: man was 3:1. The trainers were from our Metta Moe Myanmar, my two colleagues and me and we used the curriculum and manuals of SalusWorld (http://salusworld.org ) which our beloved Gwen and Elaine contributed to us.

During those five days, we shared the knowledge and skills on counseling, counselor, what is aging, normal aging and psychological problems when we age and interventions and therapies. Our training methodology is generally starting from brainstorming by the participants and lectures by the trainers and then we all discussed together. We also put group discussion, presentation and questions and answers session. Games, activities and debriefing were the very helpful tools to raise the motivation of the trainees.

What we shared at the training were not only those theories but also very applicable tools for the community helpers and we focused on how to adapt those tools work for the elder persons. They could learn “Life Line”, “Power Badge” and “Where I am from” activities and together, we all discussed how we can use those with the grandmas and grandpas. As we learned those by doing, among us, we had got a better understanding and known each other well; we became friendlier and could build a strong network. We listened to each other, empathized each other and impressed each other for the strength of individuals.

I am very proud of meeting those who have a strong commitment and passion for their organization, their community and the people they are helping and working with them. It’s my pleasure to do those jobs which, I really hope, can be effective for what we would like to work for the well-being of our society. This five-day is a learning period for both parties. As they are devoting practically in elderly care programs, their experiences and inputs are really helpful to develop our facilities. At the same time, I wish our theoretical knowledge would promote them in their lives and their environment.