Saturday, March 15, 2014

The Last Service


To conclude the last leg of our ASB tour, we visited seniors who decided that congregating with each other is better than being alone. As members of the Faulkner County Senior Wellness and Activity Center, these people, who are sixty and older engage in social activities such as exercising, bingo, and sporting games to name a few. A sporting game we got to watch and cheer on was Bean bag Baseball which consisted on the Shakers and the Blazers competing on who would acquire the most bases. As we cheered on these teams, I could not help but feel the warmth that radiated from the atmosphere. In addition, there was no doubt that they appreciated us being there as we not only watched but enjoyed the game being played.
Following the game, a representative of that particular district spoke to the seniors on hunger in the state. He elaborated by stating that Arkansas was number one in the country for elderly hunger. I was also shocked when he revealed that one in five persons in the state went to bed hungry. Subsequently, I was reassured that the seniors in that center were not part of that statistic because a hearty lunch is served to them everyday. As lunch was enjoyed,  I conversed with four lovely ladies who gave me life advice in blunt fashion only older people can efficiently execute. They fussed over my picky eating like I was one of their grandchildren. Unfortunately when it was time to depart, it felt bitter sweet. I knew I would never forget these people and their courage to continue to still live life.
After our interactions with the seniors, our group ventured to the new place they will be meeting in. Since the seniors would not be in the new location until July of this year, we were expected to clean and help with simple renovations. With that in mind, I was ecstatic that they would be meeting in a bigger and nicer facility.
 So to sum it up, meeting those senior citizens taught me that life will inevitably age us, but our hearts will remain as young as we allow it.

Mimi Ijeoma Duru

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