Lifelong Fulfillment

[Anchor Lead]

As people live longer and longer lives, many senior citizens work well beyond traditional retirement age and a growing number of grandfathers look after their grandchildren for their working children. Here’s a look at just a few of the ways people are finding purpose and fulfillment in their golden years.

[Pkg]

This is a store that makes boxed meals in Chuncheon, Gangwon-do Province. The workers who cook, package, and deliver boxed lunches are senior citizens over 60 years of age. The average age of workers here is 68. They work twice a week for four hours at a time and receive 220 dollars per month.

[Soundbite] Park Jeong-ryeol(70/Participant of Jobs for Elderly Program) : "If I stay healthy, I can work for two or three more years, right?"

All 30 employees working at this chicken soup restaurant are older than 60. Customers applaude the elderly who work hard without a thought about retirement.Since 2004 local government bodies have subsidized 337,000 jobs for the elderly all across the nation. These local programs are providing the older generation with social participation opportunities and economic income.

[Soundbite] Jang Sun-I(Welfare Team Leader, Chuncheon Senior Club) : "As people grow older, their biggest problem is economic difficulty. So the elderly are very satisfied about this program."

Park Jae-yul welcomes his grandchildren returning home from school.

[Soundbite] "Did you have fun at school? Yes!"

He has been taking care of four grandchildren over the past ten years for his two sons and their wives while they worked.

[Soundbite] "August 3rd Thursday, Minseo finally turned over."

He even recorded their developments in a journal and has recently taken up drawing cartoons on childcare.

[Soundbite] Park Jae-yul(Grandfather) : "The feeling's different because I raised them myself with lots of physical contact. My love for them is no different than their mother's."

This grandfather published a diary he wrote while raising his grandchildren after retirement.

[Soundbite] Shin Sang-chae(Grandfather) : "I wanted them to remember that their grandparents doted on them."

He says the most touching and rewarding moment in his life was when his granddaughter called him "Grandfather" for the first time.

[Soundbite] Shin Sang-chae(Grandfather) : "There were emotional times when my heart raced or when I teared up."

Senior citizens working well beyond retirement age and grandfathers taking care of grandchildren are becoming more commonplace in today's society as elderly people now live long after retirement.