Leading a sheltered school life in Kerala and doing his engineering course at BITS, Pilani, Mathew Cherian had never come face to face with the darker side of India.
It was a rude shock to him therefore, when he landed in Mumbai for his first job and saw people sleeping on the streets and children eating from garbage dumps. At first, he did the normal thing – gave them money.
But reflecting on the kind of food he had with his colleagues and what the street children had, Mathew decided to leave his well-paying job and work for the betterment of his fellowmen. That was 30 years ago.
Today, this native of Pathanamthitta is the CEO of HelpAge India. His journey as a social worker began when he stayed with Baba Amte and worked in rural areas. He was soon approached by Oxfam, a UK charity fighting global poverty, to take charge as its director of central India. Mathew worked in tribal areas and became the international director of Oxfam.
It was then that the president of HelpAge India wanted Mathew to head the non-profit organisation for the aged. He joined as the CEO of the organisation in 2004.
“People have to understand that aging is all in the mind. The problem in India is that there is a lot of migration (among the younger generation) and the older people who are left behind suffer from the pangs of loneliness. So we try to organise elderly people to form groups and if there is a problem, they can fight together,” he says.
HelpAge India has over 800 old age groups, they associate with over 1,000 senior citizen associations, 56 age care centres and have a helpline – (1800-180-1253) of their own. Their office in Kochi, located in Panampilly Nagar, has a helpline and physiotherapy unit, and handles over 24 projects in the State.
Talking about the Kerala scenario, Mathew says, “Materialism in the middle class has led youngsters to run after money and less so for love. Children rarely call their parents, a good percentage of whom may be living alone. Kerala has a good number of old age homes. In fact, it was in Kerala that the first old age home was built — nearly 160 years ago. There are fewer cases of abuse in Kerala, but there is also less care.”
“We are trying to develop a palliative care design in which ailing, old people will have a chance to be near their children in their last moments rather than watching them through a glass door. We are talking to the doctors to let them be home once there is no more hope.”
