24 Nov 2011

The Old in Our Society


The old constitute one of the poorest sectors of our society and their situation is worsening.  The crisis is not the only culprit for this worsening in their situation because before the crisis the quality of life of many was precarious.

Spain is rich in poor old people.  More than half of old people who live alone are considered under the poverty umbrella.  A third of our old are underfed due to living alone, having chronic illnesses or sometimes from having a miserably small pension.

Everyday, as the supermarkets and markets close, many of the old can be seen searching the rubbish bins.  To eat from the rubbish is becoming ever more common amongst the retired Spanish, with what they save they are able to survive to the end of the month.  Those are people who receive little more than 300 euros a month to pay all of their subsistence costs, so they feel obliged to search the rubbish into order to supplement their food.

For a long time Med has had the intention to help this vulnerable area of our society but we’ve never found the right way.  We were not able to get precise information or logistic help.  Now it seems that we may be able to do something, we have made some opportune contacts and have a team ready to take action.  If all goes well we hope soon to be able to help old people with scarce resources in an area of Palma.  We hope to provide more information soon.

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