Age is everything but a number, woes of the newly retired person

By Rehema Mtingwa

Imagine being 55 years old or older, with some college education, some professional courses, diplomas, an unfinished undergraduate degree (did not graduate) and a vast experience in what you do.

You have been very good at what you do; you diligently deliver your tasks to the dot and sometimes beyond expectation. You are reliable, committed and loyal to the job. You have kept yourself up to date with the technology trends to keep yourself relevant and competitive.

You received award after award for best employee of the year or month. This sounds perfect, doesn’t it? You look forward to a happy retirement in a few years. Well, think again.

Boom! Out of the blue, your employment contract is abruptly terminated or not renewed for whatever reason (lack of funding tops the list, organizational restructuring, shift in organization area of focus). Sometimes it is true but often times it is not. This is a polite way of the management saying they want fresh or new ideas.

You pack your stuff, make ‘an appearance’ at the farewell party if there is, you smile and ‘wish them well’ in future. The organization too gives you a ‘pat on the back’ for being the most loyal and committed employee.

A colleague or two give you some encouragement. “Someone with your performance record and experience, will not have a problem finding another opportunity, people like you are the ones much sought after,” they would say.

Another one would chip in, “You know, when one door closes, many more open up.” Yeah, blah blah blah. You are actually still in a daze and you move mechanically through the whole ‘episode’.

After the niceties, you go home to enjoy your new found ‘freedom’. The plus side is that you no longer have to wake up at 5am to commute to your workplace, no tight deadlines, no annoying customers or colleagues; you enjoy the quiet of your home and realise that you had no time to really be home. You bond with your children or grandchildren or other family members, neighbours and community.

For the first time you see the ‘Mangi shop’ opposite your house, you see the garden if you have one, and it badly needs tending to, you also have time ‘to chat’ with a neighbour who has been jobless for more than two years now and his savings has gone down the drain due to bad investments, the list of firsts goes on and on.

It is like rebooting your life all over again to start on a ‘safe mode’. It is an opportunity to reconnect and re-learn so many basic things. You even take time to travel a bit to visit old time friends and family.

You feel renewed and completely ready to tackle anything that comes your way.

However, as time passes, you start to realise that this honeymoon is short-lived. Reality kicks in, more so when you see your bank balance dwindling at a 5G speed!

You start recalling the encouraging ‘advice’ that your former colleagues gave you. You are confident that if you start searching now, you will soon land a job and life will go back to normal. You update and brush up your résumé and social media profile and start sending in online applications as is the trend nowadays.

At this stage, you are still selective on the jobs you apply for. You tell yourself, after all, age is just a number – not an indicator of potential, performance, skill, or anything else for that matter. It’s about time we all recognised that.

By now, you have ‘clicked’ about 200 submit buttons to apply for jobs but no avail. Months fly by and you are lucky if you receive a no-reply regret email after six months.

By now, you have also frantically done some ‘bad’ investments. Poultry, livestock keeping, farming, fish ponds, brick making, a small shop, ‘boda bodas’ you name it. In fact your house now looks like a war zone and not a home! Due to your inexperience, most of the small businesses fail.

You are aware you are not getting any younger, have a mountain of responsibilities on your back, you have no resources to sustain, and your friends are all either too busy or are not able to help you.

You are seen as nuisance. You might visit them at the office only to keep you waiting at the reception for hours on end. You realise that this mission doesn’t bear any fruit. It was just a waste of time and money and most of all, your dignity.

At this point, life stinks! No amount of training or counseling prepared you for this reality. Since when did turning 55+ become a crime? Due to this constant high stress, you start developing illnesses like high blood pressure and diabetes (it becomes worse if you have no health insurance cover). You now seek solace in alcoholism, promiscuity, religious fanaticism or even depression. This is a time where most families break up due to insecurities and uncertainties surrounding family income and social status.

This scenario is just a sneak peek of what most retirees and/or some not so senior citizens face daily.

What should be done to improve this situation then?

We don’t actually need to cater to the needs of older workers; in fact, when it comes to employment, there are very little differences between the preferences of older and young persons. They both need flexibility, opportunity and purpose.

At the end of the day, we need a healthy and happy society. We need a society that does not fear to grow old, a society that is assured of a flexible employment environment that does see the other age group as competitors or threat. We need a society that will have a solid succession plan in which both age groups win.

You know what? All these things happen just because one reached the ripe age of 55+. That is why I say, age is everything but a number! The number is a crucial deciding factor for what happens in one’s life.

Disclaimer: This article is solely based on author’s own observation and life experience. Any similarity, relation or otherwise to anyone, or anything is purely coincidental.

Rehema Mtingwa was born and raised in Mwanza but now lives in Dar es Salaam. She has a passion for writing and spent her career writing journals and articles. She can be reached via email at [email protected]