Kuku is one of the oldest …

Date: 08 August 2008 By: Mashudu Netsianda

A cool wind hisses through the half-open scraggy wooden door, allowing sunset rays to sneak into the tiny rondavel and create a golden glow.

An age-worn, thin and smallish woman, whose skin resembles crushed dark brown leather, is huddled in one corner of the hut. The smell of cow dung fills the entire room while a mountain of sacks full of ilala brooms occupies a larger part of the hut, virtually taking up all the available space. She continuously rolls in a heap of blankets with the sun’s rays fitfully flickering across her wrinkled face.

Meet Kuku Nyamafushe Ndou, who is believed to be aged at least 120 years old, although this cannot be verified independently.

She was interviewed by Mirror on Thursday last week at her home in Tshigomele area, outside Beit Bridge town in Zimbabwe.

One of her granddaughters, who stays with her, eventually lifts her out of the small hut to an open space outside. Due to her age, she has completely lost her sight, but her hearing is still surprisingly sharp. Kuku Ndou can hardly walk and she spends her day in the hut alone, with a small tin besides her.

As we begin the interview, she nods her head in ecstasy and looks back in the time.

“I was born in Thohoyandou, a long time ago. We were a united family, until the war of the white people (the First Anglo-Boer war of 1880-81) disturbed us, resulting in our fleeing in different directions. I then crossed the Limpopo River and came here,” she reminisces while clutching firmly onto her granddaughter’s bosom.

The Anglo-Boer war of Independence (1880-81) was sparked by Sir Theophilus Shepstone’s annexation of the Transvaal in 1877. The war was fought to recover Transvaal independence after three years of peaceful protest had failed to yield results. The Boers won a number of confrontations and their victory at Majuba became the most famous battle of the war. The war eventually ended with the British revoking their annexation in the Pretoria Convention. The Transvaal, however, remained under British sovereignty with its foreign relations under British control.

Kuku Ndou was still a young girl when she arrived in Zimbabwe. “I was very young when I fled the war in South Africa. I settled here (in Zimbabwe) until I eventually got married,” she said.

Kuku Ndou has 11 children, three boys and eight girls and over 100 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. Her eldest daughter is believed to be over 90 years, and she can hardly walk without a walking stick. Five of her children are still alive. Her eldest grandson is 64 years old.

When Kuku talks the tenderness in her voice seemed to bring back fond memories of her youthful days.

Kuku Ndou stays with her granddaughter, Sannah Mbedzi, in Tshigomele village, about 23km east of Beit Bridge.

Her great-granddaughter, Sylvia Mbedzi aged 33, says Kuku Ndou enjoys sweets and biscuits.

“Each time I visit her from Beit Bridge, the first thing she asks from me are biscuits and sweets,” she said.

Although she has lost all her teeth, Kuku, still loves meat. However, her favourite food is rice and chicken soup.

As we inquire about her secrets to longevity, she insists that it had been God, who has been “good to me for the honouring my vows,” without elaborating further.

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Mashudu Netsianda

Mashudu Netsianda is our correspondent in Beit Bridge, Zimbabwe. He joined us in 2006, writing both local and international stories. He had worked for several Zimbabwean publications, as well as the Times of Swaziland. Mashudu received his training at the School of Mass Communication in Harare.

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