Benjamin Welch: 103 and counting
Summer is the time when Belizeans at home and abroad like to travel. But unfortunately, the rigors of numerous delays, jam packed planes and cut rate service often make that trip a monumental hassle. So imagine how News 5’s Jacqueline Woods reacted when she met a frequent flyer who is old enough to remember the Wright brothers.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
After years of covering the rising death toll of young people on the streets of Belize, it was really refreshing to sit down this morning and speak with one Belizean man who has lived for more than a century. Benjamin Welch was born on January ninth, 1899. Today, this one hundred and three year old man still enjoys life despite a few health problems that have limited his movements.
Benjamin Welch, 103 years old
“I hardly move around much. I move around a little bit when I walk.”
Jacqueline Woods
“So you use the walker everyday?”
Benjamin Welch
“Not everyday. When ever I am going anywhere or so, that is what I use.”
Jacqueline Woods
“And are you able to see? How is your eyesight?”
Benjamin Welch
“My eyesight, not too bad. When it was affecting me I went to the doctor and the doctor could not do anything. It is something in the retina.”
Jacqueline Woods
“So you have limited vision.”
Benjamin Welch
“Yes.”
In the early 70s, Welch migrated with his family to the United States. Two weeks ago, he returned home with his sixty-one year old son, Edward, to visit with family and friends.
Edward Welch, Son
“This man use to be very active when he was younger. He was able to climb trees, he used the axe to cut wood, Mahogany and to clear the plantation. One of his things was to provide firewood for the hospital in the earlier years.”
Benjamin Welch
“We use to be in the forest, cutting mahogany, all those things.”
Jacqueline Woods
“That is a lot of work?”
Benjamin Welch
“Oh yes, hard work.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Sometimes, do you think back to those days?”
Benjamin Welch
“Well, yes sometimes I remember, and I see what I pass through in those young days.”
Jacqueline Woods
“And your realise just how much times have changed?”
Benjamin Welch
“Times have changed…that is so. It’s not like our time.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Take me back to that time? Life was more simple then?”
Benjamin Welch
“Well I can’t say if it was more simple, but I think in those days, people lived by God’s will.”
Jacqueline Woods
“People use to go to church regularly, look after one another?”
Benjamin Welch
“Yeah.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Looking forward going back to L.A.?”
Benjamin Welch
“Well, yes because all the family is in L.A. And with my age, I have to be where the family is because I can’t work to help myself now, I’ve become a child again.”
Both father and son live in Los Angeles, California but make regular trips to Belize. The son, a former police officer, says he is saddened by the increase of crime that has been affecting the country.
Edward Welch
“It’s terrible. Before I left, we didn’t have crime; the crime rate wasn’t like this. I mean, everybody just killing out each other rather than live in peace. I don’t think these young guys have any value for life because since I came in the area that I stayed, I hear gunshots just about every other night.”
We do not know if this will be Benjamin Welch’s last visit to Belize, but he says he has enjoyed life and wishes that many others would be blessed with the gift of longevity. Welch says before he departs the country, he has only one advice for the Belizean youth.
Benjamin Welch
“Do the right thing that they suppose to do. That they try not to get involved in nothing that is bad.”
Jacqueline Woods reporting for News 5.
The Welch family returns to the U.S.A. on Thursday.
