By Vusumuzi Makwakwa
A blessed woman celebrated her birthday on the 1st of January, she can still walk, talk and bath herself.
An old age home is the last thing on her mind, the mother of the nation is willing to share a secret of how she managed to reach her remarkable age, the life expectancy of each generation continues to sink, but the old woman is willing to share her secret.
Polina Sabi was born in 1917 at KwaNdebele, she then relocated to Kwa-Thema (Highland) in 1976. Unfortunately opportunitie to go to school at that particular time were slim, so she was a farm girl and that granted her vast knowledge about farming and planting, she always wanted to see herself busy. Granny Polina had eleven children but now she has only one left out of nine of them. She’s an active person who always tries to take a walk inside the yard.
Polina Sabi disclosed by saying that: “The only secret I will share with everyone is that, respect the elders and your parents, and listen to them because they know what they are talking about. As for the new generation they don’t respect and that’s why they end up doing wrong things and that limits their lives.”
The importance of treating elders with respect is that you get to learn a lot about life and it teaches you how to endure the challenges that life throws on you as individual. Granny Polina’s last born added by saying: “My mom lost his sister year before last year and his sister was 110 years old, I guess they have strong genes because even my grandmother died at the age of 129. You won’t be bored when you are seating with my mother; she will tell you everything about her life but you have to bribe her with sweets.”
As the new generation we don’t reach that age because we eat everything that shortens our lives, we are also doing wrong things that deteriorate our immune systems, we also carry out that know it all attitude and we hardly respect the elders.
