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A disheartening end of the road
View(s):With Sri Lanka’s elderly population on the increase, the related social issues have also been on the rise.
Story and pics by Priyantha Wickramarachchi
Often cases have been reported where elderly persons or parents have been dropped off by children or others on the roadside, or persons admitted to hospitals have not been picked up though they are ready to return home.
Some of them claim that their children have neglected them, while others say they left home because they did not want to be a hindrance to their son/daughter and to ensure that their children lived with their families peacefully.
Elderly persons, at times, spend weeks at bus stands, on pavements or in front of a shop until they are spotted and taken to a hospital or a home. Sometimes they continue to live by the side of the road, making it their ‘home’.
Sri Lanka urgently needs to address these elders’ plight before it deteriorates even further.
Bus halts doubling as shelters for those with nowhere to go
They've seen better days
A place to lay his head
A time to rest
Not a lot to call one's own
Waiting, but for what?