Helping hands to the elderly and homeless

Providing shelter for the elderly is definitely a good deed. And, the story of the Good Samaritan couple, who provide tremendous support to the elderly mothers and physically challenged women changes the perspective of life.

Mohammed Wasif and Mubeen Fatima run 'Fatima Old Age Home'. They share their inspiration in working towards changing the life of women and brig hope to them on the occasion of International Day of Older Persons, September 30, and on the side-lines of a wellness camp organised by Portea Medical, a consumer healthcare brand.

"We started the old age home in the year 2014; I am an NRI (Mohammed Wasif). I lived in Dubai and then when my mother got sick, we happened to come back to Hyderabad.

When our mother was in the hospital, we happened to witness elderly people, sitting on roads, unattended, which made us emotional. We then decided to start an old age home at our residence.

We lost our mother to sickness, but she has been an inspiration for us to start this initiative."

This old age home with its completely secular atmosphere is an example of love having no boundaries of religion. Managing around 60 members in this home has been a beautiful experience shares this couple.

"We have started with the capacity of 20 people and now we have around 60 members. We started investing in this initiative by ourselves as a family. We have doctors in our family to conduct regular check-ups.

We take in women without children, and those who are abandoned or lost that we find in old city, especially women."

Wasif's family of seven members 'Fatima Old Age Home' tries to bond with these homeless lot by contributing from the skills that they have learnt from their mother.

"After about three years of starting this home, people began recognising our work and started joining hands along with us to work for elderly people."

Taking care of these people and family is no cake walk. However, by adjusting and understanding each other, the husband and wife created their own version of work-home balance.

"This is not an easy job, having the responsibility of a family and children is a real big thing. We have shared our responsibilities equally and so if one of us is not available to do our duties we coordinate with each other and work.

Suppose if one of us has to be at the old age home, the other takes care of the kids at home."

Regarding the medical facility provided for the people at the home, they relate, "We give all the credit to our sister and brother-in-law, who work as a backbone for this home; they provide medicines and all the care that is required medically.

We run this home for care and love, we feel that one day everyone will become old. Every person in this home are like mother and father.

It took three years to understand how to manage this home, but now we live to make them happy as long as they live. These people have seen everything in their life and now no matter how long they live, we want to give them the best."

Having a challenging spirit and accepting anything and everything that comes up to them, the couple has made a pact to never give up. "We have seen lot of changes in our life and the only zeal that we carry is to give our 100 percent for this home."

In the process of being the Bhaiya and Bhabi at the old age home, the couple never let go off a cheerful smile on their faces. And together, along with their family, they love and support the inmates at the home so that the elderly, manage to live happily, the rest of their lives.

They also strive to educate they elderly of their rights.

"If the senior citizens in our country are aware of the 'Maintenance Act 2007', there would be no homeless senior citizen," they explain.