Africa-Press – Angola. Porto do Lobito and the Angoalissar group offered this Monday, in a joint action, a donation consisting of one hundred baskets of the basic food basket to the Lar da Pessoa Idosa Girassol, located in Lobito (Benguela).
Among the products are vegetable oil, beans, milk and sugar, to meet the food needs of the elderly, within the scope of the social responsibility of the two companies
According to the Home manager, Rosário Lourenço, the institution, with about 45 users, has faced many difficulties, mainly with regard to hygiene and cleaning material, wheelchairs and crutches to move some of them, as well as health care.
“We have a medical post with only one employee and one vehicle since 2013, already in poor technical condition. In case of serious situations, we turn to the Lobito Regional Hospital ”, he lamented.
The Home is about ten meters from an earthed road, bordered by a drainage ditch and a mangrove with a lot of grass.
As a result, Rosário Lourenço pointed out risks with the inhalation of dust, accidents, due to the circulation of caymans, and diseases such as malaria, due to the number of mosquitoes.
Asked about the origin of the elderly, he said that many of them come from municipalities in the interior of the province and beyond. There are those who have lived in the institution for over 30 years, due to the armed conflict, while others are rejected by their families, accused of witchcraft.
He added, on the other hand, that “the lack of a reception center in Lobito, makes the Administration collect some homeless people and send them to the Home, with the aim of finding a solution within 24 hours, but they end up staying in the institution”.
“We have already contacted colleagues from other provinces to see if we can refer them to their families. Some were lucky and others were not, ”he said.
The home of the Elderly Person Girassol is controlled by the State and has its own budget, but insufficient to meet various needs. It has the support of benefactors, such as some companies, churches and some individuals.
It exists since the 60s, under the name of Beiral. From 1979 it passed under the supervision of the Secretary of State for Social Affairs and was renamed Home for the Elderly, now it is known as Home for the Elderly Person.
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