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Vol.4 , No. 3, Publication Date: Sep. 3, 2018, Page: 88-103
| [1] | Welday Gebremedhin, School of Psychology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. |
The purpose of this study was to investigate the life experiences of the elderly, bedridden, and mentally ill people receiving help in Mekedonia helping center. It was mainly aimed at answering three basic questions: What life-challenges did the help-seeking people face before their exposure to street life? What were the major life crises the help-seeking people were facing on the streets? What life changes do the help-seeking people achieve in the helping center? The study employed qualitative research approach to answer the research questions. Ten help-seeking people and one co-founder of the center were chosen for interview using purposive sampling. The study also employed observation and document analysis methods to collect the data. Thematic analysis was used for analyzing the data. The findings showed that the majority of the respondents faced several life challenges before their exposure to street life which includes separation from one’s spouse, death of spouse, fired from job, early retirement because of reason other than age, illness, separation from one’s children, experience of rape, constant disagreement or quarrel with close relatives or caregivers, dropping out of school, peer pressure, denial of freedom and overwork. Most of these problems pushed the respondents to the streets. However, these problems became severe during their street lives. The center has been fulfilling the survival needs of the help-seeking people. All of the informants have mentioned that all the problems related to basic needs which they faced on the street have been resolved after they joined the helping center. Moreover, medical and hygienic services as well as psycho-social treatments with love and care were among the services provided to the help-seeking people by the center. The study concludes that altruistic behavior plays a significant role in positively changing the life of the help-seeking, abandoned people and strengthening the social reconstruction endeavor. It is also found that altruistic behavior among members of a given society is helpful to achieve social reconstruction by helping and enabling the help-seeking, abandoned people to fulfill their basic needs, achieve their physical and/or mental wellbeing and to revive from their psychosocial debilitation.
Keywords
Altruism, Social Reconstruction, Help-Seeking People, Mekedonia Helping Center
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