“I don’t know what it is, to feel 100.”
At the age of 100, Lydia Kindo is the only surviving sibling of nine.
Born in 1922 the great-grandmother was surrounded by family as she celebrated her milestone birthday at her home in Heathfield on Friday 11 November.
“I feel very good. I don’t know how you must feel when you are 100 but I feel well.”
She added: “I only have arthritis in my right hip.”
While Kindo may be a century old, her memory is still very sharp.
“I have a good memory. I was brought up in Simon’s Town in 1922 and we moved to Heathfield in the late 1930s and my father built this house.
“We lived here all the years.”
Recalling fond memories with her siblings, Kindo says she had a good life.
“I think back on all those years when I was young. Back then, when we moved here there weren’t houses in the front, there was only a field and we used to play on that field.
“The boys used to play football and there was another field where the girls used to play games.
“We had a good life together those years and our parents were very good to us.
“They were very strict but we weren’t sorry that they were strict with us.”
She adds that she was not someone who ate special food or even liked to drink water when questioned on whether she stuck to a healthy lifestyle.
“I can eat anything and I like to drink tea.”
Her daughter Vera Booysen, her only child, said her mother has always been a single parent and a God-fearing woman.
“She is always with the Bible, praying and just being humble and around her family.
“She also loves reading good books, has a very good memory and you can have a good conversation with her.”
Booysen adds that longevity runs in the family.
“She outlived her siblings, outlived her cousins and everyone.
“She was never married and I grew up in this house and her two sisters were here too and they sort of took me under their wing, so I had three mothers.
Having her mother with her and surrounded by grandchildren and great-grandchildren on her 100th birthday is a happy milestone for the family.
“It’s a milestone for us as a family but we have longevity in the family, most of my mom’s siblings died at 90 or older.
“I am just happy that she has lived to this age, seen her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and that she is of sound mind.
“We are taking her to Simon’s Town, where she is originally from and celebrating her birthday there at the country club.”
