Visiting the Elderly

Hi, this is Briana. Right now I am sitting in a little structure in the Lithuanian Jewish cemetery; we are cleaning off neglected graves. Yesterday we visited JDC’s elderly welfare clients, who are for the most part homebound and don’t have family left to take care of them. Most of them have survived the Holocaust as well, and it was kind of upsetting to see that after all they have lived through, especially the Soviet era and WWII, they still are not finally living in peace and comfort. The first lady we visited was so sweet and inspiring, so happy despite the fact that she lived in a tiny apartment alone, slept on the sofa, and had no family left. She could barley walk, yet still managed to show us around a little bit and tell us a bit about herself. The night before the war, or fighting, or something major broke out, she had traveled from Belorussia to Russia to visit her uncle. Because the war broke out when she was away from home, she was trapped there and could not return home for a few years. She finally reunited with her parents by chance, and you could see the tears welling up in her eyes while she was speaking, yet the smile never left her face. She told us that what keeps her going, and what got her though so much, is simply smiling. Her attitude towards life was the most touching and moving part of the whole day, and I felt that she gave us something no one else and nothing else could. It is as if she has the master key to life and let us in on the secret.