<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef674b0ad905ca02efa6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="708"/><figcaption>105-year-old Chandra Kumari Joshi after beating the coronavirus. All photos: JOSHI FAMILY</figcaption></figure>Six weeks ago, the live-in nurse who takes care of my<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/who-runs-the-world-girls/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/who-runs-the-world-girls/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608281673384000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEXylkJd6i9QhI2aGHlWa-nof2rmA"> 105-year-old grandmother-in-law (Muwa)</a> fell ill. She had developed cold-like symptoms and a headache, but not a fever. After she went back home for Tihar, Muwa developed a dry cough, but no fever.She began to take cough medicine, but we also applied every home remedy, steam treatments, turmeric water, honey, ginger, what have you. The fact that this could be indicative of Covid did not even cross my mind because I still somehow believed that having the coronavirus meant high fever. On the third day, Muwa’s cough got better.But then I developed a fever the day before भाइ टिका on 16 November and isolated immediately. I could only  get tested the day after Tihar, and the next day my husband developed a fever as well. My report came back positive 24 hours later, and all other seven members in our house -- including my grandmother-in-law--tested positive.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef6a4b0ad905ca02efa7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="440" height="681"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef6b4b0ad905ca02efa8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="418" height="681">The news of Muwa at her age testing positive was chilling. We had taken every possible precaution, ensured every measure to keep her safe. So the coming days were filled with worry.However, if we could look for a silver lining during this ordeal, it was that we did not need to follow strict measures of isolation, since everyone in our household had tested positive. We had been worrying about making different sleeping, cooking, and bathroom arrangements while we were waiting for all our results to come back, but that was not necessary anymore.So we shut the front gate, and sealed ourselves from the world. No one was allowed in or out. Our daughter and my sister-in-law had left enough essentials on our doorstep to last the duration of our isolation.Of the eight people in our home, my husband and I were the only ones who developed a fever, the others all had only mild symptoms. But while my fever peaked at 100°F, my husband, who is diabetic, had a high fever right from the start. When his oxygen level began to drop, he had to be admitted to hospital where he stayed for two weeks, completing a course of steroid and antibiotic treatments for secondary lung infection.It was an extremely stressful time back at home. On one hand, I worried about my husband alone in the hospital. On the other, I worried over what to tell his grandmother whenever she asked about her grandson.One day, Muwa said, “It’s so lonely here with just you and me.” Maybe she realised that it would just be the two of us in that family from now onwards. So when her grandson returned home after two weeks in hospital, she exclaimed in relief, “Finally, I can see you like this.”<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef6d4b0ad905ca02efa9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="952"><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef704b0ad905ca02efaajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="544"><figcaption>Chandra Kumari Joshi sees her grandson, who recovered from Covid-19 after a hospital stay.</figcaption></figure>Muwa likes to watch the tv news every day, and when she asks, “What happened today?”. She wants us to know how many people died of Covid-19 that day, and we give her the figure.Muwa often asks when her great-grandchildren, who live abroad, are going to come back home. We told her that planes were not flying because the pandemic was spreading all over the world. But since the lockdown was lifted and flights resumed, she sits on the terrace and keenly watches the planes fly by.Some days she notices that there were very few planes. Other days, she muses, “Quite a lot of flights today.” The planes in the sky have become symbols of hope for her to be reunited with her family one day.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef734b0ad905ca02efabjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="438"><figcaption>Chandra Kumari Joshi meets her great-great granddaughter a month after testing positive for the coronavirus.</figcaption></figure>Muwa lost her only daughter-in-law, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/who-runs-the-world-girls/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/who-runs-the-world-girls/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608281673384000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEXylkJd6i9QhI2aGHlWa-nof2rmA">Angurbaba Joshi, </a>during the pandemic. A month after her passing, she lost her sister Binda Shakya with whom she was very close. We broke the news of her passing two months later when Muwa began to ask why her sister had not been visiting.One day, as she was expressing her annoyance over Binda Didi’s continued absence, without thinking I said, “She can’t come anymore.” She immediately asked, “Why? Is she dead?” I answered, “Yes.”<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef754b0ad905ca02efacjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1094">Muwa was inconsolable over the next three weeks. She has begun to forget a lot of things, but she has not forgotten that her sister has passed. In her grief, she has started to reconcile with her own mortality. “My time has come, this is it,” she said one day.The grief of her having outlived  all of her younger siblings, a son, a daughter-in-law, and other loved ones shows clearly on her face. Sometimes, she sees her own longevity as a  curse. “Why hasn’t god taken me away yet?” she asks.Muwa overcame ‘Karuna’ (what she calls the coronavirus, and a Sanskrit word that means ‘compassion’) better than any of us. The doctors have always told us that her lungs and her heart are as healthy as a young woman’s. Her immune system is strong, perhaps from the clean and fresh surroundings and food she grew up with. She has hardened, enduring  a great deal in life, as a child widow, and as an old woman who has seen many loved ones pass on.Muwa’s mental fortitude is a testament to the fact that she is still here with us. Her memories may be blurred, but she is not inactive and silent, and will never be.

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How a 105-year-old beat the virus

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8749c7e80680e08785djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="708"/><figcaption>105-year-old Chandra Kumari Joshi after beating the coronavirus. All photos: JOSHI FAMILY</figcaption></figure>Six weeks ago, the live-in nurse who takes care of my<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/who-runs-the-world-girls/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/who-runs-the-world-girls/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608281673384000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEXylkJd6i9QhI2aGHlWa-nof2rmA"> 105-year-old grandmother-in-law (Muwa)</a> fell ill. She had developed cold-like symptoms and a headache, but not a fever. After she went back home for Tihar, Muwa developed a dry cough, but no fever.She began to take cough medicine, but we also applied every home remedy, steam treatments, turmeric water, honey, ginger, what have you. The fact that this could be indicative of Covid did not even cross my mind because I still somehow believed that having the coronavirus meant high fever. On the third day, Muwa’s cough got better.But then I developed a fever the day before भाइ टिका on 16 November and isolated immediately. I could only  get tested the day after Tihar, and the next day my husband developed a fever as well. My report came back positive 24 hours later, and all other seven members in our house -- including my grandmother-in-law--tested positive.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8779c7e80680e08785ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="440" height="681"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8789c7e80680e08785fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="418" height="681">The news of Muwa at her age testing positive was chilling. We had taken every possible precaution, ensured every measure to keep her safe. So the coming days were filled with worry.However, if we could look for a silver lining during this ordeal, it was that we did not need to follow strict measures of isolation, since everyone in our household had tested positive. We had been worrying about making different sleeping, cooking, and bathroom arrangements while we were waiting for all our results to come back, but that was not necessary anymore.So we shut the front gate, and sealed ourselves from the world. No one was allowed in or out. Our daughter and my sister-in-law had left enough essentials on our doorstep to last the duration of our isolation.Of the eight people in our home, my husband and I were the only ones who developed a fever, the others all had only mild symptoms. But while my fever peaked at 100°F, my husband, who is diabetic, had a high fever right from the start. When his oxygen level began to drop, he had to be admitted to hospital where he stayed for two weeks, completing a course of steroid and antibiotic treatments for secondary lung infection.It was an extremely stressful time back at home. On one hand, I worried about my husband alone in the hospital. On the other, I worried over what to tell his grandmother whenever she asked about her grandson.One day, Muwa said, “It’s so lonely here with just you and me.” Maybe she realised that it would just be the two of us in that family from now onwards. So when her grandson returned home after two weeks in hospital, she exclaimed in relief, “Finally, I can see you like this.”<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be87a9c7e80680e087860jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="952"><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be87d9c7e80680e087861jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="544"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Muwa likes to watch the tv news every day, and when she asks, “What happened today?”. She wants us to know how many people died of Covid-19 that day, and we give her the figure.Muwa often asks when her great-grandchildren, who live abroad, are going to come back home. We told her that planes were not flying because the pandemic was spreading all over the world. But since the lockdown was lifted and flights resumed, she sits on the terrace and keenly watches the planes fly by.Some days she notices that there were very few planes. Other days, she muses, “Quite a lot of flights today.” The planes in the sky have become symbols of hope for her to be reunited with her family one day.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be87f9c7e80680e087862jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="438"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Muwa lost her only daughter-in-law, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/who-runs-the-world-girls/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/who-runs-the-world-girls/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608281673384000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEXylkJd6i9QhI2aGHlWa-nof2rmA">Angurbaba Joshi, </a>during the pandemic. A month after her passing, she lost her sister Binda Shakya with whom she was very close. We broke the news of her passing two months later when Muwa began to ask why her sister had not been visiting.One day, as she was expressing her annoyance over Binda Didi’s continued absence, without thinking I said, “She can’t come anymore.” She immediately asked, “Why? Is she dead?” I answered, “Yes.”<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8829c7e80680e087863jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1094">Muwa was inconsolable over the next three weeks. She has begun to forget a lot of things, but she has not forgotten that her sister has passed. In her grief, she has started to reconcile with her own mortality. “My time has come, this is it,” she said one day.The grief of her having outlived  all of her younger siblings, a son, a daughter-in-law, and other loved ones shows clearly on her face. Sometimes, she sees her own longevity as a  curse. “Why hasn’t god taken me away yet?” she asks.Muwa overcame ‘Karuna’ (what she calls the coronavirus, and a Sanskrit word that means ‘compassion’) better than any of us. The doctors have always told us that her lungs and her heart are as healthy as a young woman’s. Her immune system is strong, perhaps from the clean and fresh surroundings and food she grew up with. She has hardened, enduring  a great deal in life, as a child widow, and as an old woman who has seen many loved ones pass on.Muwa’s mental fortitude is a testament to the fact that she is still here with us. Her memories may be blurred, but she is not inactive and silent, and will never be.

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101156/636b79ef9c7e80680e06472ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1473" height="1000"/><figcaption>Pashupati Briddha Ashram home for the elderly. All photos: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>Ever since the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-goes-into-lockdown-for-a-week/">nationwide lockdown was announced on 23 March</a>, the fear of being infected by COVID-19 has risen among those charged with taking care of the elderly and the very young.Older people, and those with pre-existing medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease are said to be more vulnerable to becoming severely ill with the virus.The <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19055#.XnrdDogzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pashupati Briddha Ashram</a> home for the elderly and Nepal Childrens’ Organisation (Bal Mandir) in Naxal have both been under quarantine since 14 March, with no visitors allowed.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/kathmandu-in-the-time-of-cholera/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kathmandu in the time of Cholera</a>, Tom RobertsonThe danger of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/what-is-novel-about-the-novel-coronavirus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">COVID-19</a> has added onto the challenge of running the organisations which were damaged in the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/04/25/massive-earthquake-rattles-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2015 earthquake</a> and have not been fully repaired. The Pashupati home for the elderly was actually built in 1882, and the structure has been housing senior citizens ever since. A new wing has been added for those who need special assistance.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101156/636b79f39c7e80680e06472fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101156/636b79f69c7e80680e064730jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427">The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Rana-palaces-destroyed-after-nepal-earthquake,2270" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal Childrens’ Organisation</a> (NCO) has dispersed to 10 different centres around Kathmandu Valley with 400 children under its care.  Their makeshift office and new building made by the group Abari stands next to its original historical building that was damaged in the quake five years ago, and is currently being retrofitted by the Nepal Reconstruction Authority.While the NCO plans to move back to old building after it is repaired in two years,  the home for the elderly has made little progress. According to Krishna Prasad Kandel, Administrative Chief of the Pashupati Bridha Ashram the government had allotted land at Gothatar for a modern elderly home, but project has not got off the ground.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/rebuilding-five-years-after-2015-quake/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rebuilding five years after 2015 quake</a>, Alisha SijapatiDue to lack of space, the Pashupati elderly home has limited the intake of senior citizens since 2015. It now has 140 elderly people, mostly those abandoned by their families, or have no one to take care of them.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101156/636b79f89c7e80680e064731jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="252" height="128"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101156/636b79f99c7e80680e064732jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">Both the elderly home and the NCO have taken examples <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/covid-19-nepal-and-the-hygiene-hypothesis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">from other countries</a> for virus tests and fast-tracking their disaster management plans. The children and the elderly in the two shelters have been briefed on preventing themselves from getting infected by the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/this-is-a-test/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">coronavirus</a>. They have also got masks, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/covid-19-revives-nepals-wash-drive/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">soap and disinfectants</a> from the Ministry of Health to last them two months.While Niraj Bhandari, the acting director at the NCO finds it easy to communicate with the children, it has been difficult for Kandel and his team to make the elderly understand the importance of wearing masks and washing their hands with soap.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/keeping-deep-throat-clean/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Keeping nose and throat clean</a>, Shanta Basnet“It is always easier to make children understand, but elderly are tough cookies, we have to brief them over and over again, as they do not understand that these measures will protect them,” Kandel says.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101156/636b79fc9c7e80680e064733jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101156/636b79ff9c7e80680e064734jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427">Om Kumari Tiwari (pictured above), 87, has been living at the shelter for 17 years, and does not understand the new restrictions: “We have not been allowed to go to the temples too and we haven’t seen visitors too, but why?”She also does not understand why she has to wear a mask. Kandel explains that many of the elderly have <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/old-age-interesting-findings,1659" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dementia or Alzheimer's</a> which makes it hard for them to understand and remember the precautions. Many of them also complain about shortness of breath while using the mask, and about not being allowed to meet relatives.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/what-is-novel-about-the-novel-coronavirus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What is novel about the novel coronavirus?</a>, Buddha Basnyat“It’s only natural for them to feel this way as they don’t understand what is happening,” explains Kandel.Similarly, Bhandari too mentioned that children under <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-quarantines-passengers-on-singapore-flight/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">self-quarantine </a>make requests to play outside and mingle with their friends. But unlike the senior citizens, they comply with restrictions.“We are not experts in this field, but we will make our best efforts to fight the virus,” Bhandari says. “After having survived the earthquake we now have to deal with an even bigger upheaval.”

coronavirus-and-elderly

How a 105-year-old beat the virus

How a 105-year-old beat the virus

Protecting Nepal’s elderly from COVID-19