Youths care for elderly in exchange for lodgings
BEIJING: Multigenerational sharing is quickly growing into an entrenched international trend.
Over the past five months, Tan Peifang, 84, and Wang Xinhang, fresh from college, have lived together in the seaside city of Fuzhou in Fujian province.They eat together, chat and go for walks. They look like a loving grandmother-granddaughter pair, but they are not related. Up until Wang moved in, they had never even met.The widowed Tan chose not to move to live with her two sons working in the same city, so she hired a nanny to take care of her.
That arrangement lasted until last year when her nanny quit.
She then heard of a “cohabiting” programme rolled out by her community, where thousands of residents are aged 60 or older.
Tech company Laoxiangqing (Senior with the Young) launched the programme, which pairs senior care seekers who can provide accommodations with youths who need cheap accommodations.The requirement: young people should take care of the elderly hosts – physically and psychologically – in exchange for free lodgings.
The intimacy is mutual, with Wang describing Tan as a caring person.
“Granny likes spicy food, but she cooked mild food when I had a terrible cold,” Wang said, adding that Tan would also comfort her if she had a bad day at work.
Since the programme debuted in 2017, more than 1,600 people have signed up, said Laoxiangqing.
It was rolled out against the backdrop of a rapidly graying population. The National Bureau of Statistics figure shows that China had more than 166 million people aged 65 or older by the end of last year.
Housing and rental prices have become increasingly unaffordable for youths.
Chen Xiaoqing, the Party chief who oversees the project, admitted that the “matchmaking” process was not easy and the success rate was low as it had rigid requirements for its participants.
But she said it was a wholesome attempt to find a way to look after ageing residents.
