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Political and academic concern that care for older adults in Sub-Saharan Africa is insufficient and under strain in light of changing demography and society is long standing (UN, 1982), but poorly set out. Questions remain unanswered: What is meant by ‘care’and what is the care that older adults need? Do (all) older adults want this (undefined) care? If they do, when do they want it and from whom? Much of the established discourse implies incapacity in older age, a burden of care to be shouldered by family, and homogenised ‘elderly people’who want, and sometimes successfully motivate, care. In 2008 I started a conversation with older men and women in rural Malawi about their experiences of ageing. Caregiving and-receipt was a recurring narrative in our discussions, and at the heart of their understandings of older age.‘Care’,‘help’,‘assistance’,‘support’,‘looking after’and ‘keeping’, were used interchangeably in …