Rodki Bai Gameti, 65 years old, lives with her husband Kalu in village Bagdada in (Gogunda block, Udaipur district), located approx. 5 kms away from the district road, comprises of scattered settlements on hills and mostly mud and thatch houses. She has 4 sons, who live in separate houses in the same village. Although they meet her and Kalu occasionally, they are unable to provide any support. Rodki and Kalu live in a mud and thatch house, whose electricity connection got cut because of their inability to pay the bill, at a time when the government’s electricity subsidy scheme was inactive. Because of Kalu’s old age and health issues, he is not very mobile and stays at home. This leads to Rodki having to do both household and outside work. She also has a small amount of farm land (after division from sons), on which she grows some maize, which provides meagre income. Both her and Kalu receive government old age pension and ration, which is used up in their daily expenses.
With increase in age, Rodki started losing her vision, around 1 year ago. This affected her daily activities, whether it be daily chores or relieving herself at night. She was unable to visit her family members, which increased her isolation and loneliness. One of ARTH’s field worker met her one day and found out about her and Kalu’s health issues. They were informed of cataract surgery services available at no cost. She was referred to an eye hospital in Udaipur city where she received cataract surgery for one eye, cost for which was borne by ARTH and the eye hospital. For this, she had to travel approx. 50kms. Surgery significantly improved her vision, and she could conduct all her work easily. Field worker also found no light source, and provided them with a solar lamp. This helped her and Kalu to move in and around the house even after dark. She also received eye surgery for her other eye 6 months later. Kalu also received cataract surgery in one eye and a walking stick to help him move around.
Both are part of the village’s Prabal Yatra Manch – a mutual support platform for older persons to enable healthy ageing. They both attend the Manch’s monthly meetings which helps them remain keep in touch with other older persons. As an active member of the Manch who attends all its meetings, Rodki Bai has shared her experience of eye surgeries, motivating others with the same issues to seek treatment. She has also learned some hand and leg exercises in Manch meetings, and has begun doing them at home, albeit irregularly.
Rodki and Kalu reside in a low-resource setting, where it is difficult to maintain health and well-being with increasing age, but ARTH through its efforts is working towards reaching out and providing them with necessary support to ensure good health.
Snehal Sinha (ssinha@ccr.arth.in) & Rekha Ameta, ARTH