JAKARTA – TCP-TBWA\Indonesia recently launched a new initiative, #AdoptAMother, in conjunction with Indonesia’s Women Appreciation Day.
The initiative aims to draw attention to the growing number of Indonesia’s elderly mothers abandoned in aged care facilities by their families.
In Asian societies, we tend to assume that we take good care of our aged parents. Historically this was the case, with extended families the norm, and taking care of ageing parents and grandparents seen as a duty. Now, rapid urbanisation and lifestyle demands are changing society in sometimes alarming ways.
According to Indonesia’s Agency of Social Welfare Coordination (BK3S), seven out of ten nursing home residents are widowed mothers who have been virtually abandoned by their adult children.
“Adopt a Mother is our way to bring back a little of the joy of motherhood,” said Wisnu Satya Putra, TCP-TBWA’s Group Strategic Planner. “We can never hope to replace a real caring family relationship, but the simple act of sharing your time with a mother who has lost personal contact with her own family can, we think, make a life-changing difference.”
The public are invited to participate by ‘adopting’ one of the mothers in aged care facilities featured on the initiative’s website. It’s not an official adoption process, but rather a personal commitment to respond to a mother’s needs for time and companionship, as if they were members of your own family.
Wisnu further explained, “If a mother shows her love with a hug, then we ask participants to return her kindness with an even bigger hug on Mother’s Day. If a mother prefers to express herself in a letter, then we ask they take the time to respond with a nice long letter. A sympathetic ear might be all a mother asks of her adoptee. It’s not money or gifts mothers need. Often the most precious gift people can share is simply time itself.”
TCP-TBWA\Indonesia hope that by simply creating awareness of the issue, they may encourage more sons and daughters to get back in touch with their own elderly mothers.
The movement rolled out in December, with plans to take the idea to other countries in Southeast Asia in 2015. For more information, visit www.adoptamother.com.
