Abraham and his wife Sarah became the father and mother of many nations when they were very old. In fact their biological systems had virtually shut down. In line with worldly understanding, Sarah laughed and thought it a joke that she would mother many nations in her 90s.

The Bible, in the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah shows that indeed it is not over until the mission is accomplished.

This couple in their old age, produced one who would prepare for the coming of Jesus and whom Jesus would later describe as the greatest person who ever lived, John the Baptist. Sacredness of these two examples of biblical truths is captured through the tradition of using heavenly messengers to announce such divine events.

Greater wonder is in God's choice in using the aged. How many such wonders in today's world are being missed by this generation, which at best is indifferent and at worst intolerant, with the aged?

It is a fact that all faculties slow down when people get older or shut down for the very old.

It is also true that this demographic group becomes more dependent on the younger ones. The impact of the aged on society and the economy becomes more of a demand than supply. Growing old and older is all part of life, but the younger and agile generation, in its indifference or intolerance for the aged, conveniently forgets that they too will one day become the old.

I have come across many people who say they do not want to live long and become a burden to others. Yet, biblically it is a blessing to live a long life.

Traditionally, African societal structures incorporated this wisdom of blessings.

In African systems the elderly remained relevant as long as they lived, be it on family or legal issues. They were taken care of by the village. They were everyone's responsibility. The rationale was in the appreciation for not only the sacredness of the aged, but also of earlier contributions made by the old to society. Hence, use of such Shona descriptions as "mudzimu wemusha", were used even in reference to the old.

The modern society views the elderly as obstacles. Many believe it is a young people's world. Fast and energetic, the young run most of the times to nowhere, instead of enjoying the grace experienced around the elderly.

Just sitting and downloading wisdom from the elderly, I believe could be richer in quality than some ICT. Yet, the young instead of using information technology to harness this rare and vanishing databank, they actually use it to alienate the elderly.

Who are these old people? It is the midwives that ensured safe delivery of the young. Doctors who saved the young from all those infant and childhood illnesses.

There are the millions of teachers, who imparted knowledge and mentored the young. They are the professionals whom the young admired and emulated.

If none of the above are our parents. Fathers and mothers, on whose honour the bible commands one's wellbeing, they once led dignified and good lives, yet in old age, the society watches the elderly in their frailty being stripped of dignity day after day.

Subdued and alone to some of the elderly, the unknown in death, even becomes better appealing than the horrors some of our aged have to live.

The old have a right to dignified and successful ageing. In addition to shelter and food, the aged have a right to healthy living, cognitive and physical functionality and active engagement with life.

African societies generally provide stable social care for the aged, than in Western countries. Thanks to a culture of extended family.

However, new social rearrangements of family structures due to HIV and Aids and emigration in Africa, has left many of the aged vulnerable.

The World Health Organisation cites two areas in which the HIV and Aids pandemic has impacted the aged. The older people are increasingly being infected by HIV and Aids. However, available data does not often include how the pandemic is affecting this population group.

As a consequence, older people continue to be excluded from HIV and Aids prevention and treatment programmes. UNAIDS estimates that 2,8 million people aged 50 and over were living with HIV in 2006 and the prevalence of HIV in South Africa among people age 50-54 was more than 10 percent, almost 5 percent among those aged 55-59, and 4 percent among those aged 60 and over.

Secondly, HIV and Aids has reduced the elderly to being caregivers. High mortality rates among adult children have resulted in older people becoming head of households, providing care to sometimes, not just their immediate grandchildren, but to extended families as well.

It is now the elderly, who have to send children to school, supervise homework and attend family fun days at schools. The majority of older caregivers are women who face serious financial, physical and emotional stress due to these belated caregiving responsibilities.

Bless their hearts, many take up these responsibilities with such enormous love and gentleness, but can the elderly effectively shoulder these new socio-economic challenges alone?

Shifts in family structure which are also affecting the aged are due to the rise in migration.

Many of the younger Africans, who would have been providing for the elderly, are in the Diaspora.

This social shift has impacted traditional village settings. In Zimbabwe, for instance, it is now common to find a few old women in a village with school going youngsters, and no young adults to perform household chores. The concept of extended family is now being shouldered by the old people, rather than young adults as it used to be.

More sadly is the fact that these older people are not just being denied healthy living, but also the means to economic subsistence. Retirement age remain in most countries around 60 to 65.

Even though African economies are recording economic growths for the first time after a long economic decline, social systems still lag behind. There is always a general assumption that governments are responsible for ensuring that the aged are provided for and protected.

Yet, many governments on the continent are bogged down with issues such as employment and production.

This effectively leaves the aged on their own. Cash transfers and social pensions provide some relief to the aged, but more needs to be done. There is need to sensitise societies of this growing social imbalance where the aged have to be parents sometimes too many children.

This social balance is also impacting the quality of children and young adults of the future. A grandmother looking after six grandchildren, some of whom are sick, is not energetic enough to mold each of the children in the way that mothers and fathers in a smaller household would.

More thoughts need to be directed at how society could give back to the old people the right to live a dignified and secure ageing. If the young society is expecting the aged to look after its own children, orphans or the sick, then society should consider keeping these elderly in employment so that they could earn a basic salary and medical insurance.

This naturally would reduce the burden on public expenditure and force the systems to be more innovative in creating more jobs. Keeping older people in employment also allows the young to learn from the experienced.

Removing grandparents from these sad family set ups for a couple of hours a week could help these elderly parents psychologically, to secure a decent living and accomplish their purpose in this life.

The writer is a governance researcher and consultant.