Horizons Sample

NOV-DEC 2011

Horizons magazine is published by Presbyterian Women (PW) the national women’s organization of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Issue link: http://horizons.epubxp.com/i/52581

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I took the risk of starting Global Action on Aging (GAA) in 1994 because I could see that there was no organization based full-time at the UN that was addressing the issues of aging. We started out posting [infor- mation about aging and its inher- ent issues] to our website. The internet at that point was new! [W]e began just with English. Very soon, a Chinese intern said to me, "Well, if you are really seri- ous about aging, you would post materials in Chinese!" So we found someone who would read through articles and write a sum- mary in Chinese and post them. Then we realized if we had Chi- nese, we had to have all six official UN languages. [W]e realized our organization was providing a serv- ice to people who wanted to know more about aging. Currently, we are on the verge of [establishing] a [UN] Human Rights Convention on Aging. A [UN] working group will consider how we define what older people's rights are and which ones are the most ignored, [then determine] how to proceed. There is not a lot of attention paid to aging, and yet, all over the world, people everywhere are getting much older! ᑅᑃᑂᑄᑂᑆᑁ Are there specific areas on which GAA focuses? ᑇᑈᑇᑂᑆᑆᑃᑁYes, on our website, we focus primarily on what we think are the critical issues. [The first issue] is income support in old age— we have seen that here in the United States, this income is being threatened by those who want to do away with Social Security and make changes to pensions. The second [issue] is health care. The next is access to care-giving and sustaining relationships in old age. 14 groups, in particular—because, statistically, we outlive our part- ners and friends—need to come to grips with this [fear]—especially in our church communities. If older women don't have the church as a place to trust to be there for them, many are really bereft of the systems they need. Churches often are the family of last resort, [but] aren't trained to be the family of last resort. [You] can count on church for Sunday school, for your kids, for baptisms, for weddings—[to be] there for you, sustaining and hopeful. Susanne became interested in aging issues after watching her grandmother age; Susanne's passion has become a worldwide resource for those doing justice and advocacy work for older people. There must be ways in society for people who do not have children, or [whose] children are living in a dif- ferent place, to get care and respect in old age. Those are some of the most important issues. ᑅᑃᑂᑄᑂᑆᑁ In my experience, I often find that groups of older women are concerned about being perceived as "older women," because they often feel that label has negative connotations. Have you found resistance to talking about "older people's rights"? ᑇᑈᑇᑂᑆᑆᑃᑁ Oh sure. We can see it in lots of ways. One is [in the area of] funding. The subject [of aging] is stigmatized. It is harder for us to raise money for older people's issues than, let's say, for babies or teenagers. People fear aging and its connection with death, [thinking] "what has my life been, and what will the end be like for me?" I think that women's But my experience is that churches need to give more thought to [the issues of aging] and embrace it, because our faith sustains us through all the good periods, but also the difficult peri- ods. And some of those difficult periods might come in old age. I hope that this discussion around the UN and the human rights of older persons will take root in the religious community, so that older people themselves feel as though they have a right to call on their churches to stand with them. This prepares younger folks for their journey, too. ᑅᑃᑂᑄᑂᑆᑁᑀWill you share with the readers of Horizons the role that young people play in GAA? ᑇᑈᑇᑂᑆᑆᑃᑁWe've had over 200 [young adult] interns now, and [when they come to us], they want to know something about interna- tional issues, international work. I think they want a place where they can "do something"—not [just] carry coffee, for example. When they get here, they [are required to] read 20 to 30 articles and studies [related to aging issues] a week, decide what courtesy of Susanne Paul

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