According to Lillian Uludong, Director of Bureau of Aging and Gender, aside from employing the elderly to do weaving, the bureau also provides homebound meals and other activities for them.
“They have exercise activities,” said Uludong. “We take them out for outdoor picnics, arrange outsiders to come and speak before them or perform for them.” The recent group who performed for the elders was from Taiwan.
The Bureau of Aging and Gender provides these services to Palauan elderly ages 55 and over. Uludong said that in order for the elderly to qualify for the homebound meals, they undergo the geriatric program in the hospital.
“Nurses go out to check if the elderly is eligible, and then they bring the paper to us and we include them in the list,” Uludong added.
Right now, the program has 60 elderly under its care.
The bureau also provides transportation. A service takes the elderly from their homes to the center to eat lunch, do some activities and then take them back home. Uludong said they also take them grocery shopping once a week because not all of them have transportation.
But what Uludong personally likes, she said, is the inter-generational activities that they have at the center. Students come and visit to learn about the elderly.
“We’re trying to turn this into applied arts center, where we plan activities for students to come here and learn. We want to share the experiences and knowledge of the elderly to the younger generation,” Uludong explained.
Uludong has one full time and one part time staff in her office, two cooks, one cashier for the gift shop and several employed elderly.
“We employ them to do weaving,” said Uludong. “That’s another tourist attraction here because when tourists buy a finish product, they like to see how it’s done. So we have tourists come here, see the actual work and then they buy the finish product.”
Because of this employment, most of the elderly can now avail their social security services. “We make sure that they earn enough so that they can be eligible for social security.”
According to Uludong, outsiders also come to the center to do their research. Most of them give a token of appreciation to the elders and that makes the elders feel important.
The center also provides assistance in filling out forms, such as bank transactions, passport applications, documents that the elders cannot do alone.
The group even takes time to participate in festivals abroad. The recent one they participated in was the Guam Micronesian Fair where they did a demonstration in weaving and sold finish products.
In the coming World Expo in China, the elders are helping prepare the products that Palau will be exhibiting. “We already wove some products,” shared Uludong. “We make the items according to their list.”
On May 5, the country will be celebrating the Senior Citizen’s Day. “Palau is the only nation in the world that has a Senior Citizens Day where every government offices and schools are closed to celebrate the day,” Uludong said.
“Every year we celebrate the Senior Citizen’s Day for more than 20 years,” she added. Every year youths from all the States are much involved in the preparations.
