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Living past 90 comes with a unique kind of loneliness. There’s so much to share from a lifetime of experience, but a dwindling number of confidantes as the average nonagenarian outlives their friends, spouses, and loved ones.
In Argentina, some seniors are turning to podcasts to share their stories, instead. Last year, 97-year-old Alberto Chab posted a video online from his home in Buenos Aires with the help of a granddaughter, calling for others around his age to unite and talk about what’s going on in their lives.
Over a thousand people responded, stunning Chab and his family. “That little video created a tsunami. 1,500 emails. I mean, there was a real need for people, for seniors, to get together and talk to each other. I touched on a very necessary point, which is why people from all over Latin America wrote to me, even from Canada,” Chab told CNN.
His idea also got the attention of someone much younger – 26-year-old journalist Guadalupe Camurati, who knew just the platform for a rousing conversation that people around the world might want to tune into.
“From the first minute I saw them, I was kind of excited, very … It touched me,” she told CNN. “I said to Alberto and the people who were there: ‘This has to be done digitally. For me, we have to make a podcast.’”
That’s how the podcast “Ninety and Counting” was born. Seniors discuss anything from doing the tango, to healthy habits, to affection and ways of connecting. Many of the clips are shared on the Ninety and Counting Instagram page. The first post was shared in August last year.
Chab now meets with fellow seniors every two weeks to toss around podcast topics. Sitting in a conference room, he tells his comrades to “just say everything that comes to mind. It’s never going to be absurd, because whatever happens to one of us – having a car crash or going to the eye doctor – a similar situation will arise for the other.”
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That’s great!
