Ajayi to put smiles on faces of old people

Dedicated to ensuring that old people live a happy and restful life, Founder, Compassion for Aged Foundation (CAF), Oluremi Ajayi, has embarked on a drive to improve their wellbeing.

Speaking with The Guardian at a fundraiser for the aged, she noted that the foundation was established to make old people self-reliant.

“I started the foundation because I have a personal and deep connection with old people. I go to the market and find myself drawn to them. Then I started out with random outreaches. On my birthdays I made donations to them until last year when I decided to register the foundation.

“In the past we have done clothing and medical outreaches and we have been focusing on Ogun State. But in this month of May, we will be having our first outreach in Isolo, Lagos State.

“We did our needs assessment and realised that arthritis is prevalent. We will however be adding advocacy to it. When we go to health centres there are free vaccination for children and other accessible healthcare services while old people have nothing for them. We want to move close to those in government and be a voice for the old people,” she said.

While stressing that the foundation’s interventions were focused on making the aged self-reliant, Ajayi said the organisation was working on a book titled, ‘Echoes of Experience’.

“It will be a compilation of different life stories from these people. It will come in volumes and the money we make from these books will go back to them to make them self-reliant. For those who can still work, we will be giving them grants to start up small businesses.

“The book will make them feel proud in themselves knowing they have their content in black and white. Even their own children will be proud of them and they will be leaving information for generations unborn,” she added.

She further noted that the foundation has a long-term plan of having a shelter for old people, which it hopes to achieve by 2030.

“For now, we have a care outreach which involves calling, checking and spending time with them. This is outside medical, clothing and food. We have done about 1,501 medical interventions; we have 28 grant beneficiaries. We have given out over 500 care packs.

“To determine where we operate, we do a needs assessment, find out what is prevalent in the community and then meet with the community head who gives permission to go ahead,” Ajayi said.