The day of grandparents and elderly gave rise in Uganda to a beautiful collaboration between LA Uganda and the youth pastoral service, as shown by Margaret’s report.

Upstream, the bishop responsible for youth pastoral at the Ugandan bishops' conference was part of the dynamic of the campaign launched by the Vatican in the summer of 2020 "The elderly are your grandparents"; Referring to the theme of the day of July 25 "I am with you until the end of days" (Mat 28:20), he invited young people from 19 dioceses to be with the elderly, relays of the Lord by praying for them, offering them psychological and moral support, and taking initiatives of solidarity:  distribution of food,  kitchen utensils or household equipment ,maintenance of houses, landscaping of gardens, construction of toilets. In a message, Cardinal Wamala challenged young people:  "Dear young people, I urge you to do this with generosity and love. The elders can give you much more than you imagine, as it says in the book of Ben Sira (8,9)".

FIRST WORLD DAY CEREBRATIONS AND COVID-19 PANDEMIC CHALLENGES FOR THE ELDERLY AND GRANDPARENTS IN UGANDA

Pope Francis on 31 January announced a new cerebration in honour of all grandparents and the elderly to be celebrated annually on the fourth Sunday of July. This year it happened to be on 25^th July. The theme for the year is” I am with you always” (Mt 28:20) I believe this is a product of the first ever International Conference on the Pastoral care of the elderly which took place in the Vatican in January 2020. Uganda had a delegation of six members to this conference.

Therefore Life Ascending Uganda (LAU) was thrilled and welcomed His Holiness Pope Francis’s support to the elders of awarding us this special day. And he says to us “The church needs your prayers like a deep breath… our vocation now is to preserve our roots, hand down traditions…and pass on the Faith to the young…” (Pope’s message to the elderly and grandparents 13^th July 2021)

Life Ascending Uganda, the Elders’ Apostolate, together with the Youth Apostolate made great plans for the day. All dioceses were set to mark the day in a mighty way.

Unfortunately, we went into total lockdown two months before the celebration day.

While these measures are necessary to limit spread of Covid-19, the negative physical, psychological, social, economic effects are evident and more pronounced in the elderly.

The mandatory decreased social interaction leads to reduced quality of life, change of plans, increased isolation often leading to depression. Elders experience difficulty in accessing services due to broken family ties their only source of support; they are even unable to receive prompt help in case of health issues. This leads to increased age related health complications due to the inaccessibility to health facilities, lack of funds and less attention to non-covid health issues

They experience sleep disturbances as a result of living a lonely day, broken family ties, and reduction in physical activities. They also experience excess worry of what could happen to their children locked down in urban areas. Above all the future looks void and uncertain to them, with no hope of ever sharing happily with their loved ones who are locked up in towns.

Cerebrating the elders and grandparents day brought life and hope once more. The greatest news to them is the realization that they could be recognized and set apart in honour and love even in lockdown. The fear had been that Corona virus could not allow this to happen!

Thanks are to God for the modern technology in this digital era offering digital solutions.

With the support of the youths who are technical in digital solutions, the celebration was possible.

The week of 19th to 24^th July: We had varied activities through the different dioceses.

• Talks on Radio Maria: Talks disseminating Pope Francis’s message and passing the message of love from the Church to the elders and grandparents were broadcast. In addition messages enhancing awareness of the role and significance of elders in the church and society were shared. The challenges of this age group were also highlighted. This brought a lot of excitement to elders. There were many calls to the studios to appreciate the Pope. In response the youths called to appreciate their grandparents. The lockdown silence was broken.
• Charity activities: The elders Apostolate (LAU) together with Youth Apostolate organized a National Charity week in support of the needy elders and grandparents at family and small community levels. The charity activities were varied, ranging from physical gifts to support in house hold chores.

• Newspaper articles: Articles were written in the local newspapers on the life of elders and highlighting the existence of LAU.
• Dioceses organized through local radios, special prayer sessions for the elderly including Holy Mass in honor and prayers for the deceased grandparents and elders.
• Youths joined elders in their communities to pray the Rosary and Novena prayers in preparation for the day, for the elders in need and for the deceased.

On 25^th July

• We had Pontifical Holy Mass at the Kampala Archdiocesan Cathedral led by His Lordship Bishop Paul Ssemwogerere Chairman of Lay Apostolate Commission.

LAU was given chance to give remarks to the elders and congratulate them on this first day of World Cerebrations in their honour. Due to lockdown situation this was a Virtual Holy Mass, broadcast on Television channels, radios, Facebook and YouTube.

• All other Dioceses celebrated Virtual Holy Mass and offered special prayers for the elderly and grandparents making good use of local radios and television channels. I particularly thank Hoima, Soroti, Lugazi dioceses and Kampala Archdiocese who were in the lead.

In conclusion the day was well marked. Most bishops were very appreciative of the initiative of Life Ascending Movement and are more open to LAU activities in their respective dioceses. Lugazi diocese bishop Rt Rev Christopher Kakooza has developed the Life Ascending Uganda (LAU) anthem and Soroti diocese bishop has requested for LAU awareness talks to all the diocesan priests. Hoima diocese has officially launched Life Ascending Uganda – Hoima chapter.

Generally, there is enhanced awareness of LAU in the country.

We thank His Holiness Pope Francis for the initiative of World Day for Grandparents and the elderly.

Margaret W Mugeni Atim

President Life Ascending Uganda.