For over 15 years Beliatta Lions have celebrated Elders Day in their own unique way with the Elders hosting the event and entertaining their visitors with songs and dances…
“Dear Gordon, The grand finale to this year’s International Elders’ Day for the Beliatta Lions of Sri Lanka culminated as usual with their annual variety entertainment show. Although this is a program which has been held continuously for the past 15 years, I must tell you that each year gets better than the previous ones, and this year’s show was definitely the best I have seen. I find it difficult to believe that this much looked forward to variety entertainment has gone on for so long a period since I first started it.
| "Having reached this stage of my life I found myself empathising with batch mates and friends who led very lonely lives. I must add though, that while in their case it was mostly because their children had left the country for greener pastures abroad, the elderly women in my village at Beliatta also suffered from loneliness for different reasons. As a woman and a doctor, I soon realized that the therapy for this depressive illness was fellowship and not tablets' |
At that time I too had become a septuagenarian.
 The fisherman’s dance |
“Having reached this stage of my life I found myself empathising with batch mates and friends who led very lonely lives. I must add though, that while in their case it was mostly because their children had left the country for greener pastures abroad, the elderly women in my village at Beliatta also suffered from loneliness for different reasons. As a woman and a doctor, I soon realized that the therapy for this depressive illness was fellowship and not tablets.”
So begins a letter to a former resident of Sri Lanka and philanthropist Gordon Pocock who continues to support the Elders Project with his personal funds, and which traces the beginnings of an unusual event which the Lions Club of Beliatta started fifteen years ago in a small hamlet nestling amid the jungle at Beliatta.
Recalling the beginnings of the project which has continued without a break for the past 15 years, and why she had planted its first seed, the writer, Dr Dulcie Serasinghe told the Sunday Observer, “Most women in this hamlet were housebound. The only outing they had were visits to the temple once a week which was a solemn occasion, where they are not allowed to laugh and had to speak in hushed tones, as they concentrated on meditating on the 4 noble truths of which the first truth is that Life is Sorrow. This is what devotees concentrate on most of the time. While meditation is good for a troubled mind and one’s physical well being, its whole purpose is thinking about their afterlife. My question was, “What about enjoying life while it lasts and making the most of their living years?”
As she points our, “Irrespective of whether they are rich or poor, when women grow old they are all the same - sharing similar worries and living lonely lives. I wanted to lift them out of that gloomy stifling environment. To make them smile, laugh and enjoy the companionship of women like themselves from their own village, even for a short while.”
Novel
After wracking her brains as to how she could accomplish this self appointed mission, and fired by long years of serving underprivileged women, this social worker finally came up with a novel idea:. “I decided to organise small get togethers with sing-a-longs for elderly women in Beliatta so that they could relax and enjoy each other’s company – outside their homes. The question was finding a suitable venue.”
It was then that her practical nature took over and a simple solution came into her mind.
“The Lions of Beliatta began organizing small group gatherings of about seventy five elders in a few places which we organised ourselves such as community centres etc. to whom we pay a small fee. At these centres, we conducted classes in singing and dancing for those who wished, while the others were allowed to indulge in gossiping and small chit chat which these women had little opportunity to indulge in. After all as long as it is not malicious even gossiping can be a pleasurable thing and is not a crime!” she remarked. Little did the organizers know that these informal meetings held about twice a month would develop into an ongoing project that would last for over fifteen years without a single break. “The women enjoyed these get-togethers where tea and biscuits were also served. I believe it is the only Elders’ Project in Sri Lanka where the elders act as the hosts and also the entertainers. On their Elders Day celebration, the best septuagenarians and octogenarian are selected to perform about five or six items on stage while all the others are happy to be a part of an appreciative audience.”, Dr Dulcie told this writer who was invited to watch the 16th anniversary celebrations of this novel Elders Day. “Each year they try to outdo their performance of the previous year so that it would be different and better than the others. They have promised themselves that this year would be their best.”
Refreshing
It was indeed.
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"Irrespective of whether they are rich or poor, when women grow old they are all the same - sharing similar worries and living lonely lives. I wanted to lift them out of that gloomy stifling environment. To make them smile, laugh and enjoy the companionship of women like themselves from their own village, even for a short while.” |
That Sunday when this writer watched it unfold, the Elders Day concert was held at the Beliatte Primary School. As we stopped outside the gate, a large crowd of mostly elderly women rushed to garland the Lions of Beliatte with jasmine garlands, and escorted them on a red carpet to the main hall, packed with over two hundred elderly women who had come to cheer their talented peers who had been selected to perform.
Clad in sarees, cloth and jacket and skirt and blouse the women in their seventies, eighties and nineties, confidently took their place on the stage. Welcoming the guests they emphasised the fact that this was a performance of love and gratitude. “It is our way of saying ‘Thank you to the Beliatta Lions who have transformed our lives and brought us our of our lonely existence, giving us an equal place among men even if it is for this one day”, Kusum Hettiarachchi , the Septuagenarian Compere, dressed elegantly in a colourful saree and speaking confidently, said.
Slick
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| Singing their thanks to the Lions who brought them out of their loneliness |
It was evident that a great deal of time, patience and creative effort had gone into their labour of love. It was a slick, action packed performance from start to finish. It did not matter that the actors were in their seventies, eighties and even nineties, and sometimes forgot their lines. What struck us was that these uneducated elderly women had managed to write their own scripts and songs, and the high level of creativity that flowed out from each act.
When they forgot their lines, they simply adlibbed adding impromptu jokes outside the script, whether they were singing, reciting poems or acting. The sometimes bawdy jokes they cracked at each other in their witty songs and skits, were well received by the audience of elderly women as they were a reflection of their own real life situations, customs, habits, environment and lifestyles.
Best
Among the best items were a fisherman’s dance by a troupe of elderly women. Smoking beedis, wearing hats and scarves tied round their head and colourful sarongs, carrying pingo baskets containing freshly caught fish they danced, acted and cracked typical fisherman jokes. Another dance of special mention was the Veddha dance where a large number of actors wearing leaves and barks of trees did a jungle dance to the throb of drums which attracted the audience including the Lions to join them. For K. D Bodina 88 and 86 year old Sumanawathi who were part of the audience, it was a Red Letter Day in their lives as it was the only outing outside their homes for the whole year. “As we are too old to attend the sing alongs, this is the only time we get to meet other women our age and share some fellowship with them”, they said.
“Performances are timed so that they women can return to their homes to complete their evening chores. Every performance gets better each year”, says Project Chairman Lion Lady Kusum Hettiarachchi and Lion governor Athula Hikkaduwa.
Gifts
The event was followed with gifts for all. All of them (152 this year) receiving gifts of rubber slippers, a bottle of Siddhalepa (an ayurvedic Product for aches and pains) and 2 large handkerchiefs to spread on the floor to rest their foreheads when worshipping.
In addition to the Elders Project, another project launched by the same Lion’s Club is worth mention if only because it started with humble beginnings and has now developed into a multi million project involving 25 clubs and benefiting 2,018 students.
Called the Finland Foster Parents project, the educational project first launched its scholarship program for deserving students. in the area in 1986. Beliatte became the first to benefit from it when Lion Kesera Serasinghe, the Charter President at the time met a philanthropist couple from Finland, Lion Governor of Finland Ossi Vrunnen and his wife. “They wanted to do something to help deserving students at Beliatta. So they went back to Finland and persuaded fellow lions there to sponsor the education of an underprivileged child from our country. These parents visit Sri Lanka every year to meet their foster children and are very pleased with their progress”, Dr Dulcie said. Today, the program which has expanded considerably, distributes Rs 91,750 among forty five school children every month, each of them receiving Rs 1,500 per month for their education. A further four university students also receive Rs 4,500 each per year.
“It has gone on for over 30 years and we are happy that so many deserving children are today doing so well in life due to the help they received from this scholarship program,” says Project Director Jayantha Perera. “It is because of this program that I have become what I am today”, says a recipient who admits he could never have dreamed of becoming a doctor if he had to depend on his father, a casual labourer’s salary. “ I hope this program will continue and get stronger every year so that many more like me will reap its benefits”.