Our planet has more people over the age of 60 than under 5, posing an important test of our social safety nets – and our values. Students at UBC’s journalism school took an in-depth look at the people most affected
As the World Health Organization writes in its Decade of Healthy Ageing Plan of Action: “The opportunities that arise from increasing longevity depend strongly on healthy aging.
So when students in the Global Health Reporting class of the UBC School of Journalism, Writing and Media began kicking around ideas for a project about a year ago, they quickly zeroed in on aging. The students also produced a series of videos featuring the individuals; the stories shared are deeply personal.
Yeong-Im Jung, 75, recounts her backbreaking daily routine: collecting cardboard and other recyclables on the streets of Seoul in a bid to make a few dollars to put food on the table. This is how she survives in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, where reverence of elders is supposed to be a cultural norm.
The other strength of the project is its ability to humanize all the dry statistics. Give an issue a face, and you can’t help but picture your own relatives.