Everyone has eyes that see, hearts that feel and stories to tell. In life, people will go through many meaningful lessons and experiences. Some people may want to share these experiences for the future generations to come or some may just want their voices to be heard for everyone to remember. Through writing and submitting their stories elderly would give meaningful contribution to our society and will at the same time know that what they are saying is not falling on deaf ears.
The Jasmina Awards hopes to remind the elderly in Malaysia that they are still part of our community no matter what their age may be. It serves as a way to honour and cherish those in their golden years and to keep them as an integral part of our society by immortalising their experiences in words. Age is just a number, but their wisdom is evergreen.
While writing, the elderly will not only receive the various health benefits that come with the writing process, such as maintaining a good memory and refreshing the cognitive skills, but they will as well get the recognition they deserve for all they have done for us and our society.
Like every great cause and idea, there is always a source of inspiration that would serve as the catalyst for it to take shape. Following are few stories about elderly who were awarded for their stories and the way their family and friends cherish them:
Winner Dragan Awards 2018:
Last year’s Dragan Awards prize giving ceremony was truly an auspicious event. The winner, a wheelchair bound gentleman in his late 80s, of the Dragan Awards 2018 was given a wonderful surprise during the event. Having won the award, he was already set to receive the prize during the ceremony. Coincidentally, the date set for the ceremony was also close to another very special celebration, his birthday. The family of the award winner contacted Dr Jasmina and her team with plans to organise a surprise birthday party set after the ceremony. They had a small orchestra brought in at the end of the ceremony along with a beautiful cake for the big surprised. All the audience who came on that day were invited to join in on this grand celebration. “It was amazing and it was really memorable and it was something that not too many elderly have the chance to experience”. A truly magical evening it was for not only the winner of the awards but also everyone who was present on that day.
Different Generations, Same Passion
This year, the winners of the Dragan Awards were treated to visit to one of the best spa in Serbia. The winner of one of the best stories brought his wife and two of his granddaughter. One of the granddaughters was a literature student and an aspiring writer. She showed great interest in learning about the stories of the elderly and the inspiration that they had for writing these stories. While there, she was able to meet the other writers and interview them about their experience of writing, how they felt, when they started writing, their motivation for writing and who were their idols. Having the chance to allow a younger generation of writer to interact and learn from the older generation such as this is a beautiful way of bridging the gap between the two. Such an occasion provides a chance for the elderly to pass on their knowledge and strengthen the bond between the young and the wise.
The Legacy That Will Never Fade
Everyone wants to leave their mark on the world that will last even when a person has passed on, to leave something for others to remember them by that will stand the test of time. For one of the winners of the Dragan Award, it was the story that she had written and submitted. Living with cancer at its final stage, she wrote a story that she wanted to tell despite the fact that she may not be around long enough to see the result from the Dragan Awards. To her, she just wanted to leave a legacy that she knows will exist even when she has left. Little did she know, her story was selected to be published and she was able to see her work immortalised in the publication. Unfortunately, living with cancer in its last stage, she was not able to attend the ceremony to receive the award. Dr Jasmina and her team still wanted to honour her work and therefore sent a package with 10 copies of the publication, some small gifts and also the money that would have been spent if she had followed to the spa trip. “It was very emotional and very touching to actually tell this story for her family. But, the bottom line is that in this last chapter of her life, she was a winner”.