Older persons' care as life care : a pastoral assessment of the ecclesia praxis within the African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Africa

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is a pastoral care strategy for the affirmation of the dignity of the poor Black older persons. Inthis study there is a discussion of how the poor Black older persons suffered the defacement of theirdignity under Apartheid and how to a large extent their dignity is still being defaced under the newdemocratic dispensation in South Africa. These poor Black older persons are victims of various forms ofolder person abuse. They experience the prejudice of ageism intensely as it is exacerbated by racism; andwith no appropriate medical and health strategies in place to provide quality health care; and withinappropriate housing, social services, and residential care services, their dignity is denied. Due to pastdiscriminatory laws and policies these vulnerable older persons suffer the consequences of low levels offormal education within an environment of engineered poverty and racial discrimination which made itimpossible for them to enter into quality employment which would enable them to provide adequately forold age. The deprivation thus experienced made it difficult for them to flourish economically andotherwise. At present they are still marginalised and they experience intense forms of loneliness. Thesepoor Black older persons continue to suffer humiliation and indignity in spite of legislation and policiespurporting to ensure their well-being. Within a society embracing a neo-liberalist philosophy they areconsidered unimportant as they do not contribute productively to the economic well-being of thecommunity and are therefore relegated to the lowest ranks of society. With the effacement of their dignitythrough socially constructed systems their human development is seriously hampered, resulting in adisintegration of human wholeness. The inequality that the poor Black older persons suffer is anindictment against humanity as these older persons have the right to feel at home on the planet. Due to thefact that they are not recognised as having been created in the image and likeness of God, theiruniqueness and distinctness as human beings are denied, their identities distorted, and they are notconsidered worthy citizens.In order to affirm the dignity of the poor Black older persons a practical theological methodology asproposed by Osmer (2008) and consisting of four tasks, has been employed. The notion of a moraleconomy for the affirmation of the dignity of these poor Black older persons has been utilised. With themoral economy orientation linked with a Liberation Theology methodology the dignity of the poor Blackolder persons is affirmed as a personal attribute based on the older persons being a category of peoplebeing carried into old age by God, enjoying privileged positions of honour and respect, and beingeschatological signs and symbols of God's goodwill towards restored communities in Christ. Within amoral economy the values of reciprocity, responsibility, and interdependence are used to affirm thedignity of these older persons intergenerationally and contextually.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University