10 minutes of memory training for shoe shiners in Bolivia

According to the National Institute of Statistics, there were a total of 1,267,190 people over 60 years of age in Bolivia in 2022 (INE, 2022). For over 99% of seniors in the lowest income fifth, which includes shoe shiners, the state pension is not enough to live on, meaning that they have to work well into old age (CEPAL, 2022). The majority of them used to work in other informal professions but can no longer do this work and now shine shoes, even though nowhere in the world is this work as undervalued as in La Paz and the neighboring city of El Alto. Due to severe discrimination, many hide their faces behind a balaclava to avoid being recognized. Their working days are long, often more than eight hours. On good days, seniors shine an average of 15 pairs of shoes (equivalent to about 4 euros), on bad days just two or three. Over 17% of seniors have a physical impairment, and more than 43% suffer from chronic diseases (NGO's own data, 2022). Although health insurance has been in place since 2019, it does not cover many treatment costs and medications, which means that medical examinations are only carried out in absolute emergencies. Physical and mental health are also damaged by the growing loneliness in old age and the subjective feeling of experiencing less affection, and in conjunction with increasing poverty, this has a negative impact on the quality of life of seniors (Armitage, R. & Nellums, LB, 2020). Regular exchange with people in similar life situations is particularly important for them. This way, they are reintegrated into a social network and at the same time strengthened in their mental and physical abilities. Through memory training, preventive measures and regular medical examinations, illnesses can be recognized in good time and treated accordingly, and not only when it is actually already too late.