It’s a great thing in life when a ‘win, win’ situation comes along and in this case it’s free rent for companionship in a Dutch care home.
Sores Duman is 29 years old, goes to the cinema, follows his favourite sport, parties and talks about life and love with his friends.
You might think Sores’ mates are the same age as him, but when he pops off to the cinema to see an action movie and takes a trip to Maccas it will be with his mate Piebe, 79 and Martey, a spritely 94.
Sores lives at the Humanitas care home in Deventer, in central Holland. His housemates’ average age is over 85.
He, and five other students from nearby universities live at the home with 150 elderly residents, all part of a scheme started in 2012 that provides them with free housing in exchanged for 30 hours per month of their time living as a “good neighbour”. Only one activity is mandatory: preparing and serving a meal on weekday evenings.
Sores says he sees nothing unusual in his relationship with the elderly residents and it’s certainly not curtailed the usual ‘student’ activities. He says,
“We have big parties here, from beer-pong tournaments to yoga classes and occasionally they put me in a walker and race me up and down the hall.”
Onno Selbach was one of the first students to move in and says he’s saved lots of money living at the home but more importantly he’s learnt to be more patient.
Humanitas isn’t the first home to urge old and young people to live together with municipalities across Spain, France and the US also experimenting with the idea.
Experts believe such initiatives could help combat loneliness an increasing problem across the developed world.
What a fantastic idea, creating space for the elderly to mingle with youngsters and helping cash-strapped millennials!
