Senior Citizens parade and tell the secret of long life
This week is being celebrated as Senior Citizens’ Week and the theme for this year is Aging with Action. This morning one hundred and twenty senior citizens took part in a march to honor the men and women who have not only survived, but have lived quality lives from as far back as the 1920’s. But while the week focuses on those who are in their twilight years, Executive Director of HelpAge Belize, Sharon Polack, feels more needs to be done for the elderly.
Sharon Polack, Executive Director, Help Age Belize
sharon polack
“This year our theme is ‘Aging with Action,’ but it comes from a campaign, age demands action and that we are fighting for the rights of older persons but also to get plans in action that one day as we age, we will have more benefits—life wouldn’t be as hard. There are a lot of situation that older persons live with that we think that can be solved.”
jackie gibson
Jackie Gibson, 96 years old
“I’m ninety six.”
Jose Sanchez
“So what’s the secret to longevity—what’s the secret to getting old?”
Jackie Gibson
“I have to keep that secret to myself.”
Jose Sanchez
“You use to party lot? Go dah club?”
Jackie Gibson
“Lot—party dance everything that’s fun.”
“And yoh gone dah church to?”
Jackie Gibson
“Oh yes, every Sunday noh matter how I go dah the dance and get home four o’clock, I go dah mi church seven o’clock.”
Jose Sanchez
“And you use to read a lot?”
Jackie Gibson
“Oh yes and sing. And that’s the way I get through life because I read a lot and I ask questions.”
Jose Sanchez
“Essentially you kept your mind active. I think that’s the secret.”
Jackie Gibson
“That’s right.”
Eileen Wright, 91 years old
eileen wright
“I like those sort of things. I like to be happy and merry. I like to dance and keep going.”
Jose Sanchez
“We all have to get old at some point. What do we the younger people and the government need to know in order to take care of you and our selves when we get older?”
Eileen Wright
“Well you have to do the right thing and live right. And don’t rough up your body.”
Jose Sanchez
“And how old are you?”
Eileen Wright
“Ninety-one. And I am feeling good and happy.”
anselma perrera
Anselma Perrera, 74 years old
“As citizens, we have to have communication, pride, ambition and we need to step forward—noh backward, forward. And with him, we are all in it.”
Jose Sanchez
“God has to be a part?”
Anselma Perrera
“Oh yes, do it for me. I am a widow also.”
Irma Leiva, 62 years old
irma leiva
“Once you tek care of body and tek your herbs and feel good and get up early you live longer. You pray to god and thank god yoh live fi see the day. And I pray for you also. I could take care of you also. God bless you.”
Jose Sanchez
“Thank you.”
Polack express concern at the violence senior citizens. In September two innocent senior citizens lost their lives. Seventy-four year old Elston Peters was shot and killed between visits to the home of his children. Fifty nine year old Apolonio Salome was shot while on his way to buy groceries for Sunday dinner.
Marvellous, how nice to see these women celebrating their longevity. Ms Gibson and Wright are beautiful women.
I was fortunate to meet my grandmother’s grandfather who died age 104, it was a gift I have cherished, and I look forward to celebrating long life also, God willing.
One thing I noticed though where are the men? The joke is that the women send them to an early grave with the constant nagging;-) But jokes aside Ms Wright is so right with her advice, well done to all the organisers of this, we must look after our elders, respect them, love and learn from them, as they have a hell of lot more years of knowledge and experience than us.
Im glad belize is celebrating the senor citizens , nevetheless G.O.B should look into the wellbeing of those that are sick and try to create a Geriatric facility with trained professionals to give them optimum care !! there are a lot of them abandoned and it seems that everyone is just waiting for them to pass ,, when in reality we can learn a lot of values from them!!
When I grow up, I want to be like you women. Ms. Gibson & Ms. Wright I have to agree with Global, you look great but if it is not genetic, share your secrets with the rest of us.
Global; was that Effraim from Teakettle?
All of us who had the opportunity to see our parents, their parents & grandparents grow old know how brilliant many of them were & for me it is a relief when I go home to see that despite what we see in the news, most of our kids still have grandparents & great grandparents like these women & the men we didn’t see who are very involved in their lives but we do not see them because they behave.
BZNinCALI: No, my Great grandpapa was Mr Franklin from Bz City. He was born in the 1880’s and died age 104. His wife was also in her late 90’s when she died. I was fortune to hear about stories of Belize in the early 1900’s first hand from someone who experienced life in Belize then. As a child I enjoyed sitting down and listening to these stories with my siblings and cousins.
I hope the youngsters these days who have grandparent and great grandparents really grab the opportunity to learn about Belize in this way. Spent time with your elders and learn from them. Textbooks written about Belize cannot substitute for the real thing, they should complement the knowledge your learn from your elders.
The secret to living a long life is to be able to stay out of the cross-hairs of the gunmen. The state Belize is in I don’t know if I’ll be alive long enough to get old and enjoy senior citizenship (and that’s because I’m a hard working-law-abiding-taxpaying-citizen). Blessings to these seniors they sure earned it.
Congratulations to the senior citizens interviewed. Besides the respect that should be offered to the seniors in general, also it seems convenient that some programs could be implemented for their help. In Mexico any person of sixty years old, could obtain a card from a national institute that allowes to get discounts in purchases, transportation, restaurants, entertainments. In the U.S. I think that the senior citizenship starts at 55. In certain states of Mexico, a senior of 70 years old can apply for a small economic aid which is pais monthly, as a help for basic needs, providing a social worker study.