Nazneen spends ‘important’ one-on-one time with the elderly
She has been heading up the Cleft Lip and Palate Association in the country and caring for the disabled for the past 14 years.
POLOKWANE – Nazneen Khan was inspired by the passing of her mother, whom she nursed from the time she was frail and unable to take care of herself. Naz as she is fondly known as, has now made it her life’s purpose to identify places which accommodate the elderly and subsequently volunteers her time and does fundraisers for those places.
“It was a trying time when I nursed my mother for the last two months of her life. I would travel with my sister to Pretoria every weekend to go bath and change her. I just felt the need to dedicate my love and care to other elderly people since she passed away two years ago,” she explained.
Although she has been heading up the Cleft Lip and Palate Association in the country and caring for the disabled for 14 years, caring for the elderly came as a result of her experience with her mother. She realised that volunteering her time was not enough and that she needed to give back something which would make the elderly people’s lives easier.
“I decided to collect adult nappies. I saw their need in the last stages of my mother’s life. This has also created a close relationship between myself and the patients,” she said.
Nazneen helps with bathing, dressing and feeding them when she volunteers over the weekends.
She recently hosted a lunch for the elderly in Annadale. She shared that she has managed to raise money to go towards helping the elderly.
“I have a lot of things planned for next year. I have already prepared a calendar and I constantly look for more old people who could do with our help. We will also visit the rural areas to lend a hand to the elderly where we can with regards to a feeding scheme to show them that they are not forgotten,” she said.
She added that the most important part of interacting with the elderly is the one-on-one time which they give them.
