The Our Lady of Fatima Elderly Care Centre celebrates 15-years
It’s 10 a.m. at the church’s square. A group of 10 elderly people stroll slowly with welcoming smiles, unable to disguise stories of loneliness and want. Inside the small room of Our Lady of Fatima Parish, they walk into the Elderly Club. There they meet Sister Anne Marie Emdin, a retired North-American nun, and Lisa Tong, a social worker, both of whom work tirelessly to coordinate this space which receives 90 elderly people every day.

These seniors all live in the northern part of town and face difficulties to survive on a daily basis. Some are all alone in Macau; some were abandoned by their families. Others can’t be supported by their relatives. They live off a meager subsidy given by the government. Their biggest problem in life, though, is not loneliness. It’s where to live.

Seven old people in a small apartment
79-year-old Lam Chan lives in a 400 square foot house together with six other people. Tong tells that, “with the rising rent prices, these people are forced to share tiny places with five or six other people,[who are] also old, in order to face the costs”. Lam survives with only 500 patacas a month given by the government, and an extra 125 patacas that the Social Welfare Bureau gives to people over 65. After her son’s death, she was abandoned because her relationship with her daughter-in-law was never healthy. Faced with that predicament, she had to find others in the same situation and rent a house. She says, “Before, I had to find work to earn some money, but now I’m much better off with the government subsidy”.

“The government should try harder”
Tong agrees, but adds that, “This is clearly not enough; the government should do more for the elderly”. The state is trying: the social housing construction plan, announced by the government, is designed to help to improve the lives of the elderly. But Tong contends this system won’t do enough. She says, “between 19994 and 2004, there were no new social housing projects available, and now people are suffering because of it”. Because of their old age and low income, the situation is especially difficult for the elderly to find owners willing to rent to them.

Simultaneously, with the demolition of old houses senior tenants often have nowhere to go. How are they coping?
Sister Anne Marie Emdin says that, “Some people sleep in the streets, others go to the mainland”. Others are constrained by red-tape. For example, senior citizen Chao U Mui submitted her social housing request three-years-ago. In the mean-time, she asked her son, then living in China, to come and stay with her in Macau. The government canceled her request the moment it heard she had invited him. She had to process her application again from scratch. Tong explains, “Before the handover, it was easier for the elderly to find a place when they really needed it. Now, the rule is: first come, first served, and no one cares about people’s age or other specific situations”.

Emotional support
Still, the staff of Our Lady of Fatima Parish Elderly Club has observed some improvements in the way the Social Welfare Bureau and other government departments are behaving. One social worker says that, “We’ve been receiving enough support to work with several dozens of elderly people. In other words, the government is fulfilling its role. Our task is to help them to be happy”.
Throughout the day, Tong and Sister Anne Marie help the elderly whittle away the hours. “We organize pastime [favourites such as] sports activities, and motivate them to do useful things”, Sister Marie says. For example, regarding the Lunar New Year decorations, “they were all made by our elderly”.

Helping with bureaucracy
The Elderly Club also helps seniors process their paperwork with official departments. Tong notes, “Some old people don’t know how to read or write, so it’s important for us to help them handle bureaucracy”. In addition, they assist them with long hospital waiting lists by getting attention from private institutions – despite the fact that they receive free health-care.
Indeed, the Our Lady of Fatima Parish Elderly Club practices what it preaches and will be celebrating its 15-year anniversary this March. Adds Tong, “It’s essential for us to see daily results from the support we give out, even if only small ones”. Talk about amazing grace.

Sister Anne Marie Emdin: A life supporting the elderly
Sister Anne Marie Emdin is often described as someone who possesses a special gift to care for the elderly. Lisa Tong, sub-director of Our Lady of Fatima Parish Elderly Club,(where Sister Anne Marie Emdin has been working for the last 13 years), states that, “Her spirit and attitude inspires us”. This Saint Domingo’s Sisters of Maryknoll Nun-a North-American Catholic Sisterhood founded in 1912 -arrived in Asia in 1971.

For 20 years, New York born Sister worked in Hong Kong among the elderly, the drug addicted and with many other souls society had abandoned. About 15-years-ago she decided to found a centre in Macau. Shortly after arriving, she heard about the Elderly Centre and chose to join the project. Sister Anne Marie says that, “To me, the most important thing is to observe the daily results of my work and to feel that I’m contributing towards a better, happier life for the elderly”.

During a normal day, she does a little of everything: she takes blood pressure; she gives pedicure and manicure. But above all, she listens closely to the elderly. “The emotional ties created here are impossible to describe”, she gushes. Now 69 and retired, Sister Anne Marie is determined to continue her work. As always, she’s happy to go hand in hand with the elderly and the lord.

Source | Macau Business

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