The young provide a gateway for elderly to the world wide web
The young boys from Batley armed with laptops, samosas and kebabs were the gateway for some elderly residents at Wellington Court in taking them to the world wide web.
They paved the pathway for them to experience the digital world on laptops and ipads creating a portal through time to their earlier years and birth places.
One elderly resident aged 90 visited her birthplace, Grimethorpe where she relived her childhood memories and friends through the internet. She exclaimed in excitement recognising some places that still existed many decades on. She expressed her gratitude and happiness at being able to revisit past places and capture her memories from nearly a century ago.
One elderly overjoyed that she could now contact her grandchild properly using internet connectivity. This resident expressed initial concerns as she did not know how this could be done and had failed a few times before.
The young boys from Kumon Y’all, Dewsbury and a local Madressah Talimudeen, Batley united together extending a helping hand to these elderly residents introducing them to the digital age and showing a snapshot of what bandwidth the internet can achieve in connecting people and places like never before. They transported other residents elsewhere, to different parts of the globe, allowing them to experience life in a different time zone.
One young person, Uzair Fajandar, 17 said “Wow… What a wonderful experience teaching our older generation different aspects of this modern day internet. It was not just about teaching but also learning from them to see how life was back then”.
The co-ordinator at Wellington Court, Dave said “the young men quickly assessed if the residents had any experience” He further commented that “the residents thoroughly enjoyed themselves”.
Karina and Jay from Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing were the intermediate for Kumon Y’all to bridge a stable connection with residents at Wellington Court.
Farook Yunus, projects manager from Kumon Y’all explained to the elderly residents that we would love work with them in the future and progress this positive work into bulb planting, garden clean-ups and other inter-generational activities that promote a good understanding between all and further friendships and unity across different communities.
