After 112 days of lockdown in Melbourne, Greece-born Effie Atkins who lives with lung cancer is hopeful that she will be able to keep the family traditions of Christmas alive, albeit in an outdoor setting this year.
We live in very tough times. I don’t have fear because I am careful before I go out or before I do anything, I check first what I do, what consequences that will have?
That sense of loneliness is what not-for-profit provider Feros Cares’ Be Someone For Someone initiative aims to tackle. Since one in four Australians currently experience loneliness, Jo Winwood who heads the initiative says her team is putting together an online Christmas celebration via Zoom for older people around Australia who are too afraid to leave their homes at the moment.
We know that Christmas is the loneliest time of the year regardless of self-isolation and all the things we’ve experienced so it’s a time when people feel particularly vulnerable at its best. So community activities, things that you would normally get on the bus, go out to the park, join in the carols - people are afraid of doing that so that gives them even more impetus to stay at home and become even more isolated.
To find out how you can help tackle loneliness this Christmas, visit Be Someone For Someone’s the More the Merrier page.
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Click on the player above to listen to the interview in Punjabi.
People in Australia must stay at least 1.5 metres away from others. Check your state’s restrictions on gathering limits.
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