elderly – Generation Change https://blogs.dw.com/generationchange Whether they are campaigning for free press in Zimbabwe, helping provide clean water in India, or offering free music lessons to underprivileged kids in the UK, young people all over the world are making a difference. Wed, 16 Nov 2016 16:49:27 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 Young Brit brings tech to the elderly https://blogs.dw.com/generationchange/2013/09/young-brit-brings-tech-to-the-elderly/ Tue, 03 Sep 2013 12:42:02 +0000 http://blogs.dw.com/generationchange/?p=4055 Keeping up to date with new technology can be daunting for people of any age but if you’re in your 70s or 80s and have gone your whole life without mobile phones, let alone Facebook and Twitter, new technology can be downright frightening. Nevertheless, many senior citizens have to get used to the Internet to do essential things like pay bills and book doctors appointments.

And that’s where Rachel Elson comes in. The 20-year-old from Walsall in the English Midlands has decided to give up her spare time to teach older people about new technology.

Listen to Liam Starkey’s report from Walsall:

Young Brit brings tech to the elderly

 

Rachel Elson

Rachel Elson (right) with one of her tech learners (Photo: Rachel Elson)

]]> Young women volunteers provide companionship for Russia’s elderly https://blogs.dw.com/generationchange/2013/02/young-women-volunteers-provide-companionship-for-russias-elderly/ Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:17:16 +0000 http://blogs.dw.com/generationchange/?p=3319 Letter writing, entertainment and friendship – no job is too small for Liza Oleskina and Marina Kochevalova when it comes to taking care of the elderly in Russia. They are members of Starost v radost, or “It’s nice to be old.” Founded in 2006, its young women volunteers provide much needed companionship for the older generation from the Urals to Siberia.

Listen to the report by Geert Groot Koerkamp in Moscow:

GCRussia

 

Every weekend, Marina Kochevalova travels to the Russian countryside to visit the elderly

 

]]> Dignity in disease https://blogs.dw.com/generationchange/2012/12/dignity-in-disease/ Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:48:27 +0000 http://blogs.dw.com/generationchange/?p=2771 Playing the piano, going for walks and doing household chores are what make Daniel in New York an everyday hero for Alzheimer’s patient Byron O’Connell. Now he’s making a film to encourage those dealing with the disease.

Listen to the report from Laura Postma in New York:

Dignity in disease

Pictures: J.P. Dobrin

The two are the subject of a documentary film


Byron has helped Dan see people differently

More on Daniel Davy’s blog.

 

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