Meeting disadvantaged older people in Africa really put work as a Communications Officer for HelpAge International into perspective for Faith Mall.
She’d exchanged emails and phone calls with Victoria before. But Faith Mall saw a different side to the 70-something South African over a coffee in Nairobi.
“She started crying when she told me about her daughter and granddaughter who lived with her, and both had HIV,” says Faith, media communications officer at HelpAge International.
“I had no idea. I was really moved when she told me about the kind of things she goes through on a daily basis. It really put the work I do into context.”
For the last two and a half years, Faith has worked with HelpAge International’s partner organisations in 50 countries, raising awareness of the issues faced by older people in developing countries. She visits older people living in Africa and other continents around the world six times a year.
“I’ve heard such amazing stories and I just want to get them out there in the media so others can read them,” says Faith. “I really believe in the power of communications and the impact media coverage can have in changing the lives of people like Victoria.”
Victoria was one of three older representatives of HelpAge’s partner organisations who joined Faith on a particularly memorable one-week long trip to Kenya. Representatives from older people’s organisations in Zambia and Uganda came together to help plan a campaign to get new member states in the European Union to raise awareness of issues in Africa.
“The man from Zambia was in his late 60s and survived on very little money but he still volunteered to help co-ordinate support for older people in his village who didn’t have a social pension or easy access to healthcare,” says Faith. “And the woman from Uganda told us how her sister had AIDs but she couldn’t tell her children. I didn’t realise the extent to which the issues we campaign on had affected her.”
Faith’s role on the trip was to convey these stories to the media in the Czech Republic and Slovenia, so they in turn would put pressure on policy makers to get the EU to set up funding supporting older people in Africa. “It’s an opportunity for the older people we represent to make sure they’re happy with what we give to the media,” she says.
Back in HelpAge’s London office after the trip, Faith went about her normal work with renewed enthusiasm. “At times you can feel removed from the issues unless you’re meeting people affected by them,” she says. “What’s exciting is that in communications, our reports, our website and our case studies give a voice to older people in developing countries,” says Faith.
Working to raise awareness of issues affecting older people in developing countries is a long way from Faith’s former career as a journalist writing for women’s magazines. But the former RNIB Communications Officer prefers life in the third sector.
She’s currently working on a campaign for International Day of Older Persons (October 1st) which will encourage delegations of older people around the world to lobby their government on key issues.
Faith adds: “We have so much more to do make a difference to older people in developing countries and the comms team at HelpAge International have a big role to play in communicating that.”
Published before February 2009