Warmest greetings to you, your families and loved ones for the festive season and the New Year ahead from Jan Hively and Moira Allan.

 

When there's fire in your belly, a twinkle of curiosity in your eye, and you walk and talk with family, friends and colleagues, you can very definitely, despite the ups and downs, say it's a very good life.

 

Our Pass It On community has had a very successful year speaking out against ageism via zooms and videos, launching our Southern African Regional network, our OPEN HOUSE sessions for new members, our very popular 50/50 Global PIONeer online conversations series, and welcoming new liaisons. There’s more to come in 2022 and many more roles to play.

 

Enjoy your own personal year-end review and enjoy envisioning stimulating goals for the year ahead! Read here how Jan Hively, our co-founder and US liaison, is shifting roles and transitioning into her future. 

 

My own travel-home plans, like so many others across the globe, have been disrupted by the latest Omicron strain of the coronavirus identified by South African scientists, and so it goes. As Jan says, “The most important attribute for positive ageing is adaptability.”

Register here for our next GLOBAL PIONeer 50/50 Online Conversation with Val Wood-Gaiger on Monday 13 December at 1:00 pm EST. Expect a dynamic, hands-on conversation about how grandparents and grandchildren are achieving meaningful objectives through collaboration, such as running a global campaign to encourage tree planting. Hear and exchange thoughts about how working together validates our living legacy. Valerie Wood-Gaiger MBE, is the founder of Learn with Grandma, a network of 49 Facebook groups around the world. Twenty-four of the networks are in Africa.

Philip Chircop, founding president of the Grandparents Malta Foundation, told us that he wouldn’t be attending our Learn with Grandma 50/50 Conversation because he will be returning to Malta from Slovenia on that date, after leading a group of 50 Grandparents on a tour between 6 to 13 December 2021. Immediately upon his return to Malta, he will be attending a ceremony, during which the President of Malta will confer on him the The Order Of Merit of the Republic of Malta!
 

Vijay Naraidoo, PIONeer liaison in Mauritius, founder of Dis-Moi and untiring advocate for the rights of older people, was decorated by the President of the Republic on Mauritius’ Day of Independence. His title will be Officer of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean, given for services rendered in the social field.

Wallis Pattersonn, like a child playing in a sandbox
Talking to Wallis Pattersonn, our new liaison in Melbourne, Australia, revives my spirit like a tonic! As she says, “I feel life gets better, richer and deeper as I go along”. Wallis is an entrepreneur and believes in doing well while doing good. “That’s what the world needs. We all need to look around us, see what’s to be done and then have the courage to roll up our sleeves and get started. Personally, I feel I have grown wings in this stage of my life”. One of Wallis’ devouring passions in life is fashion. “I feel like a child in a sandpit whenever I try on new clothes”. Take a dip into her latest Empowering Boldness magazine and see for yourself. You’ll be particularly interested to read her her Vision for 2022 and article on The Global Institute for Experienced Entrepreneurship and Empowering a Silver Economy.

Professor Rebecca Nthogo Lekoko, our new PIONeer in Botswana, comes from a traditional extended family of 10 siblings who are privileged to share their lives with their mother who turned 100 in 2021. Rebecca studied in Botswana, Canada and the US and holds a doctorate in Adult Education from Pennsylvania State University. A new member of the PION Southern African Network, Rebecca is registering an Older Adult Advocacy organization ‘Ageless Inspirations’. She is working hand in hand with Prof Magen Mutepfa, PION’s liaison in Botswana, building on the principle of ‘Each One Teach One’ that will empower each member to empower others and promote lifelong and experiential learning. The driving mission is to promote the community value of caring for the elderly as well as respecting and recognizing the potential of older people to contribute to personal, community and national development needs.

Invest in future centenarians to deliver big returns!

Our South Africa PIONeer Liaison, Lynda Smith, interviewed Moira and Jan about who they are now and how their work with PION has grown out of who they were previously. Listen to the interview taped earlier in December.

Music facilitates communication

Pass It On Network interviewed Hunter Leonard on his latest book, Maturity Blues, that takes the reader on an in-depth dive into what is needed to enable older worker employment in our more mature world. Government and Employers and Workers need to work together to support The Experience Equation – creating a future where your experience is valued. See the interview here.

Beatrice Sithole’s motivational book is moving off the shelves

Els Messelis, our liaison in Flanders, Belgium, has authored 13 books including several about sexuality in our later years. She shares her views about the upside of ageing, while at the same time warning that there are “No Roses without Thorns”. Read more here.