Our village Krzesławice is aging. There has been a mass exodus of young people to the cities. They are usually busy with their own lives and have only occasional contact with their parents. When there is infrequent contact with close family, this can cause loneliness and a vulnerability of the elderly. According to municipal authority statistics, at the end of 2020, 18% of people living in Krzesławice were aged 60 +, while this was as high as 37% in nearby Karczówka. The oldest group of residents need to be given organized support enabling them to participate in community life.
We intend to resolve the question of exclusion of the elderly from community life and provide the missing measures to help them; to be mindful of and support people who feel forgotten, less important, and of no use to the community.
We will conduct a two-year series of meetings – blocks of activities in various areas of knowledge and skills: computer classes, healthy cooking, motivation workshops to counter helplessness and stagnation, lectures on biological and psychological aspects of later life, memory exercises, (prevention of dementia) and intergeneration workshops with children and young people on “how we used to live”, artistic and sculpture handicraft, cultural events. We will provide a healthy single-course meal and dessert. We also envisage landscape walks in the neighbourhood, a tourist and landscape excursion, and trips to the Warsaw Grand Theatre and Świętokrzyski Philharmonic.
The project will increase activity, knowledge and skills of people aged 65+ in various areas of life and affirm their conviction that they can and should participate fully in community life and are artistic and creative. We will change the rural community centre, which is usually closed, into an Elderly Friendly Facility.
A group of 25 people aged 65+ residing in the villages of Krzesławice and Karczówka will participate.