Young computer
whizz-kids raise their eyebrows in disbelief. Surely they'd be
better doing the things grandparents are supposed to do. They'd
never be able to cope with the intricacies of a computer!Saga, JULY 1997
Internet Elders provide a worldwide communication networld at your fingertips,linking without prejudice friends around the globe.
Grannies and granddads on the Internet? Young computer
whizz-kids raise their eyebrows in disbelief. Surely they'd be
better doing the things grandparents are supposed to do. They'd
never be able to cope with the intricacies of a computer!
The whizz-kids are in for a shock, however. Older people are "Surfing the Net". Age doesn't matter when you're writing to friends across the world. Three years ago, I became list-owner of the Internet Elders, whose members live all over the world: Nicaragua, Thailand, United States, Canada, Australia,New Zealand and Europe including the UK. We are truly an international group, with my co-list owner Elaine Dabbs living in Sydney, Australia, and the list based in St John's University, New York, courtesy of Dr Bob Zenhausern.
Most of the people on Elders are retired or over 55, though
younger people have asked especially to join. We share our
combined knowledge and expertise and have become a close band of
friends. English is the common language, some of us even visit
other members when we travel abroad.
One of our members who is a wheelchair user was asked to carry
the torch with the Olympic flame through Tallahassee, with the
heat, which includes humidity, at 100-deg F. The wheelchair of
our Elder had been fitted with a bracket for the torch. Here is
her account of what happened:
"When I got delivered (by bus) to the beginning of my segment, I saw lots of friends waiting. A man on a motorcycle activated the fuel canister in the base of the torch and I moved out on to the roadway. The runner approached and gave me the flame and Iwas off... People were clapping and cheering. It seemed to last forever and at the same time, it flashed by in an instant. Finally, I saw the next runner and passed him the flame. The same man on the motorcycle expelled the fuel from the torch and gave it back. My friends gathered around to hug me.
"Suddenly it was all over. What a high! The flame is headed south and for a brief time it was in my care."
We felt as if we'd been there with her, sharing the glory of passing on the Olympic flame.
One of the members of the list lived in Alaska for several years.
She told us of her experiences while touring the Matanuska
Valley, where the vegetables grow huge due to the almost constant
sunshine during the summer, and of her trip, "by an old
plane that vibrated so badly that we wondered if it could
possibly make it", to see the seals in Cold Bay in the
Aleutians. The trip was a disaster, as they were not allowed near
the seals. "All we got was a horrible odour," she said.
Living in Alaska would not appeal to me, I fear, yet she had
enjoyed her time there.
Do you know what a doula does? One of our Canadian Elders
occasionally acts as one. The word is Greek for the care one
woman gives to another woman, rather like a midwife. In her
professional capacity she attends a birth to provide emotional
and physical support for the mother. She is there from the time
the woman goes into labour until the baby is born. Recently she
shared with us her experiences of helping at the birth of a baby
born to an Indian woman and her husband, who had only been in
Canada for one year, and her great delight at the safe delivery
of the baby.
Another of our members for the last four years has been
running choirs for children of the poor in the barrios of
Managua, Nicaragua. She is now organiser of a project called
Musica en Los Barrios, which trains young Nicaraguan men and
women as music teachers, so that they can assist her work.
"If one child has had a happier half-hour than he or she would have had at home, if one child has had an awakening of an awareness or a skill, if one child has experienced a feeling of comradeship in making a beautiful sound with the other children when none of them could have made it alone, if one child has followed the path of his imagination down the paths of the songs they learn, the programme is already a success."
When natural disasters happen in other areas of the world, we
have an immediate first-hand account from our friends in these
areas. We share with them the fear and dread, such as during the
Ruapehu eruption in June 1996 in New Zealand. Here is a section
of the account of an eye-witness:
"It was one of the most awe-inspiring sights I have ever seen. To the east, it was just like a typical early winter day, blue skies, no cloud, and brilliant sunshine. However, to the west, the sky was completely black, with volcanic ash falling like rain in a tropical storm. The wind was blowing in different directions at various levels, and I could see the ash changing direction as it fell.
"I watched the ash falling on Taupo township only a kilometre from me as I stood in clear sunshine... The mountain was going through a series of smaller eruptions. These occurred at intervals of 30 to 40 minutes, each eruption sending up a mushroom shaped cloud high into the atmosphere. As each cloud erupted from the dark crater and headed for the bright light of day, it opened out at high altitude and like the spores of a mushroom dropped ash to be spread across the countryside by the prevailing wind. The ash was similar in consistency to grey castor sugar and settled everywhere..."
There had been little mention in our newspapers of flooding in
Thailand, or in Canada, yet we heard about them from our friends
in these countries. Our friend in Thailand described vividly her
kitchen under several feet of water, with snakes swimming through
it, and how the swollen flood waters had helped the crocodiles
normally held in their pens to escape.
We also heard about the fire that raged in New Mexico:
"The fire began around noon. A trash fire is the suspected origin. The fire spread through the community of Lama (est. population 50)... Many of the fire fighters came in groggy and red-eyed. My job was to set up computer and phone communications in my office. When the first of the team leaders showed up they started phoning around for motel rooms and meals. McDonald's opened early and came up with 250 meals... "
Would you like to know more about Ogopogo, the Canadian cousin
of the Loch Ness monster? Its serpentine coils are judged to be
between 30 to 70ft long and can move
swiftly through the water.
We alternate between these accounts, serious discussions about
social issues, and lighter subjects: poems, music and films that
should not missed... all are shared.
We run our own Review published quarterly on World Wide Web.
Subjects have included An Amish Wedding Life in Ethiopia and On
Being a Grandparent. Our list on the Internet has become so
popular that we now have a waiting list.
Patricia Davidson's E-mail address is: patd@
Chatback.demon.co.uk
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