Social Issues and Elderly Women in Regine Mamba

“Regine Mamba” by Stephanie Nolen and “Suitcase Lady” by Christie McLaren address the difficulties that two elderly women endure. Despite being in different countries, the two articles illustrate how social issues impact their personal lives. The women deal with hardships that involve family issues and poverty. However, both stories also show what brings the women hope to continue on. Both women have difficult family issues. Nolen describes the grandmother faces a situation in which HIV/AIDS has claimed the lives of her children.

She has to deal with the burden of raising orphaned children. Throughout her life, she has watched as HIV/AIDS take her friends, family members and community. In McLaren’s story we see how her family estranged her. “A brief marriage when she was 20; a son in Toronto who is now 40. “We never got along well because I didn’t bring him up. I was too poor. He never call me mama” (McLaren page 1).

This implies that the woman is homelessness caused by misfortunes in her life.

In addition, both women are also living in wretched poverty. Nolen talks about the grandmother is elderly and she does not have the resources to care for all the children left under her care. At her age, she is supposed to be living a peaceful life with occasional visits from her grandchildren or children. This is not the case because she is providing for children on the little she gets from her land. However, the woman makes decisions that led to the loss of her job and the homelessness she is experiencing in McLaren’s story.

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“Before, I had a kitchen and a room and my own furniture.

I had to leave everything and go” (McLaren page 2) demonstrates she had a job and house. Last but not the least, both stories portray what brings both women hope to continue on. Nolen describes the grandchildren and God give her hope. Similarly in McLaren’s story, the woman believes “God takes care of me, that’s for sure” (McLaren page 3). She also has full of dreams which are “musical notes” and “tiara” in her suitcase. Moreover, her belief in her country, other people, children. Both stories show the plight of impoverished women in difficult countries. Although the woman in “Suitcase Lady” is from a developed country, her difficulties are very similar to that of the grandmother in a developing nation. Both women deal with poverty, health issues and family struggles. The stories demonstrate the wilt of humans to endure such hardship, maintain their hope and dreams even though the situation insurmountable.