- The schools are part of the neighborhood and the life of the neighborhood, so the Eguzkitza College of Irún, next to the other, and the elderly residence of Amaxantal, are used to performing joint activities. Also at Christmas they will prepare personalised postcards, sing together children and seniors and doing manual work together, as the intergenerational relationship created is enriching for both.
Eguzkitza students aged 10-12 are preparing postcards for the elderly who are in the neighboring residence. They have previously received a list of likes and hobbies from each to make postcards as personalized as possible. Every year, older people get the postcards excited and excited, according to their dynamizers.
Young people of the same age, students of Eguzkitza Elementary School, have also approached the residence to make a Christmas workforce. The young man and the old man make the labor together and then save the older ones to decorate their room. And the 7-8 year old students will also meet with the older ones before going on vacation: they have already been singing to the residence and have been very welcome, but the proposal has come to them, because the older ones have said that they also want to sing with the children, and they have proposed two songs (Olentzero has gone to us and Bell over the hood), now they try songs at school and at the residence to gather them and sing them all together.
Santa Águeda, carnivals, alarde de de San Marcial… On special dates of the year, residents enjoy the performances and shows that the students perform, sometimes outside, others inside the residence. In addition, a special event will be held shortly, the year of the Korrika and the witness will be passed.
The children have gone to sing to the residence and the proposal has come, the elderly also want to sing with the children and try two songs to gather and sing together
Joy, illusion, empathy…
In the elderly residence of Amaxantal there is a woman who is always silent, because the day of the children’s visit has been at ease talking to them. This is what the dynamics of the residence have highlighted, reflecting the benefits these visits bring to the residents and the satisfaction they bring. Teachers use illusion, enthusiasm, emotion, empathy… to explain what these acts give to some and others. The benefit is bidirectional, as we emphasize in the article of intergenerational relations: the elderly regenerate, improve their self-esteem and are infected with the joy and laughter of children. Children also learn from the experience of the elderly, even helping the elderly who need it.
“We are a segregated society”
The experience of Eguzkitza school, open to the neighborhood, is as simple as it enriches, but can you imagine opening the haurreskola in a nursing home? We counted it in this article: In a nursing home in Seattle (EE.UU. ), which serves over 400 elderly people, each week they meet five days in the children's school called the Intergenerational Study Centre. Sing, dancing, painting, diving in stories, cooking, playing or simply sharing. The author of the documentary, Evan Briggs, wanted to reflect on our dysfunctional relationship with the elderly and old age: “What system of values do we have so that from a certain age people do not have a place in society? There is a lot of wisdom and experience in the elderly and all this is being lost.”
On the other hand, the postal initiative has pointed out that in more than 38 countries they have a similar initiative: you can write a letter to one of the elderly people who feel alone without visits and who is in the old people’s home (the one that suits you) and for this you will receive prior information of their likes. In short, loneliness is one of the most serious evils that have spread in old age.
