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Extraordinary Human Lifespans (Alleged / Unverified)

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125 Year Old Woman

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2543879.stm


Mali's 125-year-old woman

At the ripe old age of 125 years, Hawa Sacko is no longer able to get about on her own. ...

... I ask her how she feels about being the oldest person in Mali, maybe even the world.

"I can't possibly be older than my mother," she laughs.

"But as for me being older than other living people, it's true I'm older than all the other living people I know.

"But I can't say anything about all those people I don't know." ...

The only thing keeping her out of the Guinness Book of Records, where the oldest living person on earth is 10 years her junior, is the lack of a birth certificate.

But her vivid memories and firsthand accounts from the late 1800s of the West African resistance fighter Almamy Samory Toure and the arrival of French colonists, allow social workers to put her age at 125, going on 126. ...
 
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"No single subject is more obscured by vanity, deceit, falsehood or deliberate fraud than the extremes of human longevity" - Guinness Book of Records.
Dare I say it - she's probably not that old at all. I don't mean to be rude or offhand, but, in a polite and courteous way, it's probably just a mistake, especially in a country like Mali, where people are not well nourished as a rule. I've just looked up my atlas, and the life expectancy of a woman in Mali is 48 years. This is not to say it's impossible, but it's probably economical with the truth.
Not so many years ago there was a stir about the longevity of people in a place called Vilcabamba, in Ecuador. There were said to be dozens of people over 100 in one town, including one Albertano Roa, aged 119, who was still smoking, drinking, and digging the garden. Frankly it turned out to be tosh.
An interesting point here is that there is no reliable scientific way of dating any part of the human body. So without a birth certificate and other evidence, well, I'm afraid it's apocryphal.
Then again, I could be wrong.

Big Bill Robinson
 
Rollies the secret of a long life?

Man Smokes His Way to 122 Years -- Maybe


TUK YOUNG (Reuters) - In a creaking bamboo hut deep in the Cambodian countryside a very, very old person -- possibly the world's oldest -- smokes a large, hand-rolled cigarette which he swears is the secret of his longevity.



But unfortunately for Sek Yi, whose relatives say he is 122, he will never be able to win a world record for his tiny corner of southeast Asia because all his documents were destroyed by Pol Pot's ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge (news - web sites) in the 1970s.

"We wish him well, but, sadly, we have to have strict verification for all our records," said a spokeswoman for Guinness World Records in London.

Having survived the horrors of the "Killing Fields," in which an estimated 1.7 million were executed or died of torture, disease or starvation, Sek Yi and his equally wizened wife, Long Ouk, 108, can only muse on the causes of their extreme longevity -- a mixture of tobacco and prayer.

"When I was young I used to chew betel, but people made fun of me saying I was like a woman, so I took up smoking," Sek Yi told Reuters in a barely audible croak.

"To live a long time, young people should go to the pagoda often and lead a pure life," his wife said. "Every time I pray I ask the Lord Buddha to look after my children and help them live long."

The couple now have just one final wish -- to visit the famed 800-year-old Angkor Wat temples, Cambodia's national treasure.

"They had planned to go to Angkor several times, but something always happened, like war or fighting, which prevented them going," said 13th daughter Siek Yiet, 62.

According to Guinness World Records, the world's oldest living person is Kamato Hongo, a 116-year-old Japanese woman. Guinness says the greatest fully authenticated age to which any human has lived is the 122 years and 164 days of Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=757&e=1&u=/nm/20031017/od_nm/old_dc
 
Or not!!

Oh well he didn't last long :(

And view the power of recycling older reports!!

Cambodian tiger hunter dies at maybe 122

Mon Oct 20, 3:05 AM ET


PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A Cambodian tiger hunter and martial arts exponent believed to be the world's oldest person has died peacefully in his sleep after a brief illness, his relatives say.



Having survived the horrors of the "Killing Fields" genocide in the 1970s, Sek Yi, whose relatives believe he was 122 years old, was revered across the deeply impoverished southeast Asian nation on account of his unusually advanced years.

Unfortunately all his documents were destroyed by Pol Pot's ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge (news - web sites) guerrillas, forever denying him the possibility of setting an official world record.

"If you wish to pay your respects, please come today," one of his many granddaughters told Reuters. "He died peacefully on Sunday morning after a few days of illness."

Sek Yi will be buried on Monday afternoon near his creaking bamboo hut in the tiny village of Tuk Young, nestled near the border with neighbouring Vietnam around 200 km east of the capital, Phnom Penh.

In an interview with Reuters five days before he died, Sek Yi and his equally wizened wife Long Ouk, 108, attributed their longevity to a combination of tobacco and prayer.

"When I was young I used to chew betel, but people made fun of me saying I was like a woman, so I took up smoking," he said in a barely audible croak.

Guinness World Records says the world's oldest living person is Kamato Hongo, a 116-year-old Japanese woman.

The oldest fully authenticated age to which any human has lived is the 122 years and 164 days of Frenchwoman Jeanne-Louise Calment, who died in 1997.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm.../20031020/od_uk_nm/oukoe_life_cambodia_oldest
 
The human Schodinger's cat... neither alive nor dead until someone checks.

Whatever the truth, he obviously lived in interesting times... poor sod.

Jane.
 
Sunday January 18, 12:51 PM

Could this be the world's oldest woman?

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Chechen great-great-grandmother born in 1881 could be the oldest woman in the world, Russian state television reports, saying she pipped the current record holder by eight years.

Pasikhat Dzhukalayeva has nine grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, and seven great-great-grandchildren who call her 'Granny Asi'.

"I do not know why I have lived so long. I have buried five brothers and sisters, and four children," the wrinkled Dzhukalayeva, who moves around in a wheelchair, told Rossiya television. She showed off a passport giving her year of birth.

If 122 as claimed, Dzhukalayeva would have been in her thirties during World War One and Russia's 1917 revolution, and already in her sixties when Soviet dictator Josef Stalin deported most of the Chechen people to Central Asia in 1944.

The most long-lived person with reliable documentation is believed to have been France's Jeanne-Louise Calment, who died at 122.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the world's oldest living woman is U.S. citizen Charlotte Benkner, who was born in Germany in late 1889 -- a mere 113 years ago.

According to Guinness, the oldest living man is Joan Riudavets Moll from Spain, who was born less than a month after Benkner in 1889, the year Adolf Hitler was born.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040118/325/ejpkj.html
 
The longest lived person with some supporting documentation (besides Charley Smith who died, I think, at 134) was an Indian man from Venezuela named Javier Periera. He lived from 1789 to 1956. He was all over the news in the 1950s. As I recall, his enlistment in the Spanish army circa 1810 was found, along with some other documents. He had outlived several wives and all of his children and grandchildren, said he was looking for a new wife when discovered in 1954. He couldn't find anyone fat enough.:)
 
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126 year old woman

Lebanese Woman Could Be World's Oldest -- at 126

Tue Jun 15, 2004 07:19 AM ET

SHAITIYA, Lebanon (Reuters) - A Lebanese woman who has documents saying she was born in 1877 -- making her at least 126 years old -- could be the oldest person in the world.

Hamida Musulmani, frail and wrinkled but still working on her family's farm in south Lebanon, showed Reuters this week a document from Lebanon's 1932 census which lists her birth year as 1877.

She feels well, she said, but complained of failing sight.

Local officials said her papers were authentic, although they date from a year when she would already have turned 55.

If the census papers are accurate, Musulmani would now be four years older than the oldest person officially documented -- a Frenchwoman who died seven years ago at the age of 122.

Musulmani comes from a Shi'ite Muslim farming family. Documents show her husband Ali was born in 1890, which would have made him 13 years younger than his wife. He died in 1960.

Musulmani said she had stopped eating meat many years ago. Though her family grows and dries tobacco, she does not smoke.

"I only eat what I grow," she said. "I am fine, it is only my eyes that cannot see properly."

She says she has about 100 descendants, the youngest of whom is 10 months old.

The world's longest-lived person with reliable documentation was Jeanne-Louise Calment of France, who died in 1997 aged 122 years and 164 days, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....D=5424964&src=eDialog/GetContent&section=news
 
Thursday February 10, 04:54 PM


Cuba claims world's oldest man

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba's "120 Years Club," inspired by President Fidel Castro to help Cubans live to a ripe old age, has claimed one of its members as the world's oldest man at 119.

Benito Martinez Abagan actually says he was born in Haiti in 1880 and came to Cuba in 1925 to work in the sugar cane fields and build roads. But both his memory and identity document, which shows him to be 123, are questionable, say officials.

Dr. Eugenio Selman-Housein, Castro's personal physician and president of the "120 Years Club," said experts are working to determine the man's exact age.

"We are sure he is at least 119, or a bit less. That still makes him the world's oldest living man at present," Selman said on Wednesday.

According to authenticated records the world's oldest living man is a 113-year-old Puerto Rican.

A dozen Cubans over the age of 100 attended Wednesday's first meeting of the club, which aims to extend longevity in Cuba through healthier diets, moderate exercise and plenty of motivation.

Cuba has a life expectancy of 77 years, the highest among developing nations and 24th in the world. That is five years shorter than Japan, where people live longest, on average to 82.

Cuba's Communist government points to its free public health system as the main reason Cubans live longer, and the target is to raise life expectancy to 80.

Castro, 78 and the world's longest-serving political leader, encouraged Selman to start the "120 Years Club" and the membership is growing, the doctor said.

"Cuba is the only country that has all the conditions people need to live to 120 years," he said. Stem cell research under way in Cuba could extend that limit, he added.

Club geriatrics expert Enrique Vega said a good genetic mix and Cubans' cheerful outlook contributed to their longevity. But Cubans still smoke excessively, exercise too little and hardly eat vegetables and fish, so there is room for improvement, he said.

For 103-year-old Agustin Gutierrez, the secret to a long life is a productive and sexually active life. "The more I worked the stronger I got, and there were many women," he said

Source
 
Brazilian, 125, May Be the Oldest Woman

Fri Mar 4, 7:42 AM ET


By STAN LEHMAN, Associated Press Writer

SAO PAULO, Brazil - An elderly woman living in a small, wooden shack in rural southern Brazil could be the world's oldest living woman, according to a Brazilian record-keeping organization.

Maria Olivia da Silva, who recently celebrated her 125th birthday, "is definitely the oldest living woman in Brazil and possibly in the entire world," said Iolete Cadari, administrative director of RankBrasil, this country's equivalent to the Guinness World Records.

Da Silva's birth certificate shows that she was born Feb. 28, 1880 in the city of Itapetininga, Sao Paulo state, Cadari said by telephone. She currently lives in the small town of Astorga, some 370 miles west of Sao Paulo in the state of Parana.

Laura McTurk, a spokeswoman for Guinness World Records in London said by e-mail that the organization was researching its records for any information on da Silva. She said Guinness may have an official statement on Friday.

According to the Guinness World Records Web site, the world's oldest woman is 113-year-old Hendrikje Van Andel-Schipper, who was born June 29, 1890.

Da Silva, whom Cadari described as "mentally sound and rational," was married twice and has outlived all but three of her 14 children — four of them adopted.

"Her memory is impressive and she loves to talk," Cadari said, adding that Da Silva lives with her 58-year-old adopted son, Aparecido H. Silva.

Source
 
Cuba's living embodiment of history
Stephen Gibbs
Ciego de Avila, Cuba


"I am 125 today," beamed Benito Martinez, as he joined the birthday party at his local old people's home in this central Cuban city.

Dressed in his Sunday best of freshly-ironed shirt and trilby hat, he seemed determined to prove that laughter and music are the secret of a long and happy life.
A huge, toothless grin formed over his well-aged face as he grabbed the hand of one of his young nurses. They began to dance to the tune of a local guitarist.

Those legs of his might date back to the 19th Century, but they still have plenty of rhythm.

Benito Martinez's life story is short on detail, but very long on years. He says he was born near the Haitian town of Cavaellon in 1880. Looking for work, he travelled over to neighbouring Cuba by steamship in the mid-1920s. He planned to stay for only a few months, before going back home [...]

Full article here: BBC
 
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'World's oldest man' dies in Cuba
By Stephen Gibbs
BBC News, Havana



Benito Martinez said he came to Cuba from Haiti in 1925

A Cuban man who claimed to be the oldest person in the world has died in hospital at what he believed was the age of 126.

Benito Martinez, whose age was never proved, was the star attraction of a Cuban government campaign to promote healthy lives for its oldest citizens.

He was absolutely certain that he was born in Haiti in 1880.

Mr Martinez had long enjoyed being living proof that it was possible to live happily to a very ripe old age.

Until his last months, he led a relatively active life, tending plants outside his one-bedroom house, visiting the local old people's home and being more than happy to demonstrate that being 120-plus did not mean you could not dance.

Toothless grin

He was born in Haiti and is believed to have come to Cuba in 1925 at the age of 45 as a farm labourer.

He worked for a while on a ranch in eastern Cuba, which happened to be owned by Fidel Castro's father.

His neighbours remember the man with the broad toothless grin as always being very old.

He never married, something which together with a life of hard work, fresh vegetables, not too many cigars and little alcohol, he attributed to being the secret of a long life.

Mr Martinez was the leading light of Cuba's 120 club, an organisation which aims to promote healthy living for the elderly.

The Cuban government, which takes great pride in the fact that the country's average life expectancy is 77 years, the same as the most developed nations, tried but failed to uncover baptism records or a birth certificate in Haiti.

For that reason Benito Martinez was never officially the world's oldest man. But he died convinced that he was.




http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6042982.stm
 
Does anybody recall the Ecuadorian (I think) gentleman who became front-page US news around 1958, because of his claim to be 168 years old? His claim was supposedly endorsed by other residents of his village.

Ah....he died a few months later.
 
In the early 1950s a dear friend of mine, then in her very early twenties, sat in a bar in Dover, Delaware.

An elfin-featured old man, pleasantly inebriated, reeled up to her.

"My name is Aloysius McGillacuddy," he announced, "and I'm a THOUSAND years old!"
 
Ukraine's 'oldest man' turns 116
By Helen Fawkes
BBC News, Kiev



Hryhoriy puts his long life down to the fact that he never married
A man thought to be the oldest living person in the world is celebrating his 116th birthday. Hryhoriy Nestor was born in what is now Ukraine.

The authorities are to mark the occasion by officially recognising him as the oldest person in Ukraine.

They say they have documents that prove that his birthday is on 15 March 1891. An attempt is now being made to get him into the international record books.

Hryhoriy puts his long life down to the fact that he has never been married.

To mark his birthday, Hryhoriy Nestor is having a small party - just a few friends and family will gather at his home.

Austro-Hungarian 'golden era'

Unlike many people from his village in western Ukraine, Hryhoriy has survived a brutal dictatorship, wars and grinding poverty.

In the past, the area was ruled by Poland and the Soviet Union.

But the 116-year-old says that life was best when the region was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire a century ago.

It was only at the age of 100 that he retired from working as a farm labourer.

He is now looked after by a relative.

Hryhoriy, who still has a full head of hair, says that being single has kept him feeling young.

He recommends a diet of milk, cheese and potatoes as well as the occasional shot of vodka.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6454317.stm
 
'Oldest man' passes away in India

Habib Miyan lived with 32 relatives
An Indian man reported to be the oldest in the world has died in the western city of Jaipur.

Habib Miyan's pension papers showed his date of birth as 20 May 1879, but he claimed he was 138.

He shot into limelight five years ago when he managed to complete his only unfulfilled dream, to visit the Muslim holy place of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

A UK-based businessman paid $5,700 for the trip after reading his story on BBC News Online.

Mr Miyan lived in a Muslim neighbourhood of Jaipur with 32 relatives.

He claimed to be 138 (his pension book said 129).

He lost his vision 50 years ago and had limited mobility for many years.

He had been drawing a pension since 1938, but relatives say he could not afford to pay for a trip to Mecca.

After reading his story on BBC News Online, a UK-based businessman sent him money to be able to undertake the Haj pilgrimage.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7569656.stm
 
Kazakhstan's famous '130-year-old'

Sohan Dosova pictured on the front page of a local newspaper

"Do you remember Tsar Nikolai's era? When the Red Army came and when Vladimir Lenin died? Well I do. So take a guess how old I am."

Meet Sohan Dosova - the newly found treasure of Kazakhstan. She is 130 years old, at least she is according to her documents.

The Soviet passport issued in the early 1980s states that Sohan Dosova was born in the Karaganda region on 27 March 1879.

Now after a new national census in Kazakhstan, she has been "rediscovered".

"This is a truly unique case," says Ludmila Kolesova, the head of Karaganda region statistics agency.

"According to international standards we do not usually seek proof of ID when collecting census data, but when it came to Sohan Dosova we had to check her documents and verify this information with the social services department. They confirmed her date of birth."

Sohan Dosova can still walk, albeit with great care, assisted by a walking stick.

She eats slowly, and her favourite snack is bread soaked in tea. Sohan chews her food with a single remaining tooth.

Sohan Dosova
Sohan says she can no longer dance, but she enjoys singing

"My secret is to add butter to my cup of tea; this is how Kazakhs like their tea," says Sohan, speaking a mixture of Kazakh and Russian.

She can still see, but has hearing problems, so most of the communication is done via her granddaughters - and there is no shortage of them.

Sohan had 10 children, and three of them are still alive. Her son had seven children. One of two daughters had six children, and the other, 22.

"There is a small tribe of great-grandchildren," says 53-year-old Gulgoim, her eldest granddaughter. But when pressed, Gulgoim was unable to say just how many.

Sohan Dosova has lived her entire life in Aul, a village in the central Karaganda region, the industrial heart of the country.

Most of the population work in the coal mining industry. Semipalatinsk, the first Soviet nuclear test site, is nearby.

Some of Sohan's grandchildren are mentally ill. They are among thousands believed to have been victims of Soviet nuclear experiments.

But Sohan has stayed healthy.

"She is in good shape, alert and active," says Valentina Shamardina, a family doctor with 40 years experience.

"In my whole career I never came across cases like this. When I first arrived to do a check-up I demanded to see her passport and it all looked correct.

"I've never heard of anyone living that long."

Frequent visitors

If Mrs Dosova really is 130 years old, that would make her the oldest person in the world. But if she ever had a birth certificate, it no longer exists.

Sohan Dosova's Soviet passport issued in the early 1980s
A Soviet passport issued in the early 1980s makes Sohan Dosova 130

In fact few rural Kazakhs born in those days are likely to have been registered. It was common for people to make up their date of birth.

Her true age is simply impossible to establish. But the local media is satisfied she's the oldest woman in Kazakhstan.

Since the results of the census were made public, journalists have become frequent visitors to Sohan's fifth floor apartment.

"This place is small, I need a bigger flat," says Sohan. "There are too many people living in this crowded apartment, there is not enough room."

Certainly her family appear to be hopeful that all the media attention might result in an improvement to Sohan's living conditions.

But up to now, no benefactor has been forthcoming. So Sohan continues to live a simple existence in her old age, watching television, laughing and smiling.

Her granddaughter Nuken claims she loves dancing, but Sohan says she is too old for that now.

"I can't dance, my knees hurt... But I can sing." And so she gives a gruff rendition of her favourite Kazakh song.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 979599.stm
 
Brazil Kaxinawa Indian 'may be world's oldest woman'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-14730434

If Maria's birth certificate is right, she is nearly six years older than the verified oldest living woman
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories

'World's oldest woman', 114, dies
'World's oldest man' dies at 114
Brazil tribe overrun by 'dealers'
A Brazilian Indian who celebrates her birthday on Saturday may be the oldest woman in the world - and by some distance.

Maria Lucimar Pereira, a member of the Kaxinawa tribe, is 121 years old, says a tribal rights group.

It says she has a birth certificate showing she was born in 1890.

But the Guinness Book of Records says she has not been registered with them. The verified oldest living woman is 115-year-old American Besse Cooper.

Maria puts her longevity down to a healthy lifestyle, Survival International said - with regular dishes including grilled meat, monkey, fish, the root vegetable manioc and banana porridge, and no salt, sugar or processed foods.

She has never lived in a city and does not speak Portuguese, only the language of her tribe, the Kaxinawa, which inhabits Brazil's western Amazon and eastern Peru.

She remains physically active, community leader Carlos told Survival - walking around the village telling stories and visiting grandchildren in neighbouring areas.


Maria says she will spend her birthday with her family
Maria says she will spend her birthday with her family.

The pictures of Maria were taken by employees of the INSS - the national social security institute - when she responded to a request, broadcast on public radio, to appear at the regional INSS office, Brazilian media reported.

Brazilians over the age of 110 are asked to visit their local offices to prove that they are still alive in order to receive pensions or other benefits.

Troubles
Guinness World Records told the BBC it had no record of contact from Maria Lucimar Pereira or anyone on her behalf. It said the oldest verified living person remained Besse Cooper.

"We would be very interested in hearing from anyone who believes they are older than this [and] can provide documentary evidence," the company's Damian Field said.

Survival says her birth certificate, which it has a copy of, was issued in 1985.

It paints a picture of the troubles Maria may have lived through, such as the rubber boom which saw many Indians enslaved and killed.

"All too often we witness the negative effects forced change can have on indigenous peoples," Survival director Stephen Corry said.

"It is refreshing to see a community that has retained strong links to its ancestral land and enjoyed the undeniable benefits of this."
 
'Oldest woman' in the World dies aged 115
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23421826

Sant Kaur Bajwa

Sant Kaur Bajwa, who is believed to be have been the oldest woman in the world, died on Friday

A woman believed to be the world's oldest person has died at the age of 115 years and 199 days.

Sant Kaur Bajwa, from Southall, west London, was born on 1 January 1898 in Pakistan, according to her passport. She has lived in the UK since 1969.

Her family said they believed she was the oldest person, however they have not had this officially verified.

The Guinness World Records said to verify a claim, it needed to see a birth certificate and a passport.

Her grandson Sanjeev Singh Rai said: "Back in the day I don't know if they even issued birth certificates, but her passport has her birth date down as 1 January, 1898."

Up until her death on Friday, Ms Bajwa was believed to be the oldest person in the world.

According to Guinness World Records, the oldest surviving person is Misao Okawa, from Japan, who is 115 years and 99 days old.

Grace Jones, who is 113, is the oldest person in the UK, according to Guinness.

Secret to longevity
Ms Bajwa lived through three centuries, two world wars and the India-Pakistan partition.

"That was a really difficult time for her," her grandson Sukhinda Singh Rai told the BBC.

"To be uprooted from where she was born in Sialkot in Pakistan to Gurdaspur in India was hard."

Although Ms Bajwa's children died before her, she is survived by 12 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.

Her husband, Munsha Singh, was killed after just six years of marriage, which meant she had to bring three children up on her own.

Sant Kaur Bajwa with her great grandchildren
Sant Kaur Bajwa is survived by 12 grandchildren
Then, in 1972, her daughter died from cancer, leaving her to care for her daughter's four children, including twin boys.

Mr Rai said: "As far back as I can remember she was my mother.

"My twin and I didn't know any different. She looked after us diligently."

The family put their grandmother's longevity down to a healthy diet of fresh fruit and vegetables as well as her Sikh faith.

Son-in-law, Ajit Sing, who is now 86, remembers her visits to the local Sikh temple.

"She was God-fearing woman who worshipped daily and went to the gurdwara to offer prayers."

Charlene, the oldest great-grandchild said "she was the glue that has kept our incredibly large family together".

Eleven-year-old Pasha said: "Although it's sad that Granny has passed away but I want to celebrate her long life."
 
'World's oldest person' found in South Africa
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23453597

Johanna Mazibuko (R) and her son Tseko Mazibuko

Johanna Mazibuko, who has had seven children, lives with her 77-year-old son

At 119 years old Johanna Mazibuko, who lives in small town south-west of Johannesburg, could be the world's oldest person.

Ms Mazibuko was born in 1894, according to her identity papers, and has outlived five of her seven children.

"God gave my life in abundance, plus a bonus. I am very old now," she told South Africa's Sowetan newspaper.

According to Guinness World Records, the oldest living person is Misao Okawa, from Japan, who is 115.

Ms Mazibuko shares her house in Klerksdorp, which is about 160km (100 miles) south-west of Johannesburg, with her 77-year-old son, Tseko Mazibuko, who is also a pensioner.

According to the Sowetan, Ms Mazibuko prides herself on still being able to make her bed every morning.

Continue reading the main story
World's oldest people
Oldest person and woman recorded in history: Jeanne Calment, France, died 4 August 1997 aged 122
Oldest man recorded in history: Jiroemon Kimura, Japan, died 12 June 2013 aged 116
Oldest living person and woman: Misao Okawa, Japan, 115
Oldest living man: Salustiano Sanchez, born in Spain lives in the US, 112
Source: Gerontology Research Group and Guinness World Records

"I'm doing alright," she said.

Her ID book, issued in 1986, shows her date of birth as 11 May 1894, the Sowetan reports.

South Africa's home affairs ministry has not confirmed the authenticity of Ms Mazibuko's identity documents, but the AFP news agency says it has seen a copy of them.

Ms Mazibuko, the oldest of 10 siblings, reportedly cooks, dresses herself, does the laundry and watches television.

"She is able to move on her own but cannot stand for a long time. She gets dizzy," her son told the Sowetan.

Ms Mazibuko has lived through British colonialism, apartheid and the era of democracy led by Nelson Mandela, who was elected South Africa's president in 1994.

The oldest person recorded in history was Jeanne Calment from France who died 4 August 1997 aged 122.
 
China’s Alimihan Seyiti (127) claimed as world’s oldest woman
Kashgar woman awaits global recognition of her longevity
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/as ... -1.1495350

Alimihan Seyiti, who was born in 1886, during the latter years of the Qing dynasty. She said her long life may have something to do with her habit of drinking cold water all year round, and her relatively youthful appearance was down to “washing her face”. Photograph: xjdail.com
Clifford Coonan

A 127-year-old woman living in Kashgar in the far western Chinese region of Xinjiang has been named by the Geriatric Society of China (GSC) as the world’s oldest woman and is now awaiting global recognition of her longevity.
Alimihan Seyiti was born on June 25th, 1886, during the latter years of the Qing dynasty. She said her long life may have something to do with her habit of drinking cold water all year round and her relatively youthful appearance was down to “washing her face”.

Relatives told the Global Times newspaper that she was considered the village’s most eligible young woman when she was married at 17. “Back then I had quite a few suitors,” she said.

She was hailed as China’s oldest supercentenarian in June by the GSC following the death of Luo Meizhen in Guangxi Zhuang region, who was born in 1885.

Ms Seyiti prides herself on being able to shop at the local bazaar in the largely Muslim area and visit friends without help. She also enjoys telling jokes and singing traditional Uighur love songs.

Adopted children

Ms Seyiti did not have children of her own, but has an adopted daughter and son. She lives with her adopted daughter and has 40 grand- and great- grandchildren. “My favourite is my 15-year-old great-grandson. He comes to visit me every week,” she told the paper.

She comes from a very long- lived region. Wang Feng, deputy director of the GSC, claims there are eight centenarians in Shule county, which has a population of just below 300,000.

“We will nominate Shule county as a Chinese longevity cluster this October when China’s top-10 oldest people will be announced,” Mr Wang said.
It is a hotly contested title. Fu Suqing, from Chengdu, is waiting for Guinness World Record officials to approve her request after the previous bearer, Jiroemon Kimura, died in June aged 116.

Meanwhile in Bolivia it is reported that a man living in a remote village in the Andes is 123 years old. According to baptism records, Carmelo Flores Laura, who lives in a straw- roofed hut in the village of Frasquia near Lake Titicaca, was born on July 16th, 1890.

A supercentenarian is considered verified only if the claim has been validated by recognised international institutions such as the Gerontology Research Group or Guinness World Records.
SOURCE: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/as ... -1.1495350
 
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Quinoa, mushrooms and coca: Bolivian says ancient Andean diet has kept him alive for 123 years
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013 ... -123-years

David Mercado, Reuters
Carmelo Flores

By Santiago Limachi, Reuters

FRASQUIA, Bolivia — Bolivian indigenous farmer Carmelo Flores, who could be the oldest person to have ever lived, attributes his longevity to quinoa grains, riverside mushrooms and around-the-clock chewing of coca leaves.
Speaking in the 4,000-meter high hamlet where he lives in a straw-roofed hut, Flores says the traditional Andean diet has kept him alive for 123 years.

"Potatoes with quinoa are delicious," said Flores in Aymara, the only language the nearly deaf man speaks.

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It is impossible to verify Flores' age as the poor, landlocked South American country only started issuing official birth certificates in 1940.
But he says his baptism certificate lists his birthday as July 16, 1890 and he has national identity documents based on the certificate.
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Bolivia's Civil Registry Office says it is looking into the validity of the documents and cannot comment until the investigation is completed.
Still, many in Bolivia are already celebrating Flores' longevity. A local government official plans to award him the title of "Living Heritage of Humanity" on August 26.

The title of oldest human being ever to have lived belongs to France's Jeanne Calment, who died at the age of 122 in 1997, according to the Guinness World Records organization. Guinness did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Flores.

While Flores is still strong enough to take daily walks in shoes made of recycled tires, he spends most of his time laying on a blanket watching village life go by.

Juan Karita, AP
Carmelo Flores Laura, a native Aymara, sits outside his home in the village of Frasquia, Bolivia, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2013.

But his life was not always as sedentary. Flores said he fought in the brutal 1932-35 Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay, and had to hunt skunks to nourish himself.

He also briefly lived in La Paz, 50 miles away, but never took to the bustling capital.

"My father told me that he felt like he was in jail, locked up with a key," said Flores' only living son Cecilio, 67, who cares for him. "He ... just wanted to return to his land."

Back in his village of Frasquia, Flores is something of a loner now that his generational peers have long since died.

"Everyone who lived here has already died, men and women, I am the only who is still alive. Even my wife died," he said.

"I don't know how long I shall live," he adds. "Only God knows. He'll tell me if I will die or keep living."
SOURCE: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013 ... -123-years
 
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Ethiopian peasant, Dhaqabo Ebba, claims to be 160 years old.
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article47952

Ethiopian peasant claims to be 160 years old

Sudan Times. 7 September 2013

September 6, 2013 (ADDIS ABABA) – An Ethiopian peasant and renowned community elder living in Ethiopia’s Oromia region has claimed that he is 160 years old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXAyw6dJgmA

In an interview with a local Television station, Oromia TV, Dhaqabo Ebba claims to have passed through power transfers under the Gadaa system – the Oromo people’s own cultural, social, and political system – which accordingly will make him at least 160 years old.

Ebba doesn’t have birth certificate to proof his age, but if we are to consider the centuries-old Gadda system as perfect to determine his age, the Ethiopian man will be the oldest living person on earth.

He remembers 1895, when the Italians first invaded Ethiopia. He said he then had two wives and a son who was old enough to herd cattle.

According to him, birth certificates did not exist in Ethiopia during his early ages.

While noting that all his peers are gone he says there is no secret behind his longevity.

He recalls the transportation problems they had then and the changes seen these day.

“When I was young it used to take us around 8 days on horse back to get to Addis Ababa”, he said adding “now it only takes two hours” to reach to the capital which is around 230 Kilometers away from his village near Dodola town.

Births are not registered particularly in Ethiopia’s rural areas hence delivery are taken place at home and most Ethiopians still don’t have birth certificates.

According to Guinness World Records, Misao Okawa, a 115-year-old Japanese woman is the oldest living person verified.

Jeanne Calment of France, who died in 1997 at the age of 122 years old was the oldest verified age.

(ST)
Be great if it was true, but he looks a bit too spry to be 160.
 
China claims the oldest person ever recorded

A woman in western China claims to have just celebrated her 128th birthday which would make her the oldest person in recorded history.

Almihan Seyiti, from the Xinjiang region, lives in a village near the city of Kashgar. A member of the Uighur Turkic minority, she is vigorous, and enjoys singing, playing the dutar musical instrument and occasionally helping out on the farm, Xinjiang TV-2 reports. The state channel, aware of separatist sentiment among Uighurs, is keen to have Mrs Seyiti express her gratitude to the Chinese Communist authorities: "They threw a good birthday party for me with my family, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. My life is good. The authorities treat me well. They have built a house for me, where I live. I am very happy," she told the reporter. ...

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from ... e-28035775

Edit to Add:
But no one outside China is likely to accept Mrs Seyiti's claim at face value. Birth records in the outlying regions of the 19th Century Chinese empire were sparse and unreliable, especially for the ethnic minorities, and China has reported Uighurs living into their 120s before without any solid evidence. The oldest verified person was a Frenchwoman, Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 aged 122, but Mrs Seyiti enjoyed her party nonetheless.
 
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Hmmm, maybe this should go in the fraudsters thread.

'732-year-old woman' gets a cycle from Chhattisgarh government

532 year-old woman gets sewing machine

According to the New York times, the oldest woman on this planet, Jeanne Calment of France died in 1997 at the age of 122 and the Ecuador times reported that the oldest woman alive, Ms. Misao Okawa of Japan, celebrated her 116th birthday on March 6 this year.

But according to the information provided by the Chhattisgarh Labor Department under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, Pushpa Sahu, a resident of Abhanpur area in Raipur, is the world’s oldest woman at the age of 732, and she received a cycle under ‘Mukhyamantri Cycle Sahayata Yojana’ (CM Cycle distribution scheme) last year.

According to information obtained by Mr.Sanjeev Agrawal, the president of Rajiv Brigade, under the RTI Act, over 7000 women from Raipur district in the age group of 100-732 years have benefited through Chhattisgarh government’s women welfare schemes. ...


According to the Chhattisgarh's Labour Department, the state government distributed around 19398 sewing machines and 4936 cycles to the women worker from unorganized sector in Raipur district, but as per its own data, 6231 out of 19398 beneficiaries (sewing machine scheme) and 1368 beneficiaries out of 4936 (cycle scheme) were aged above 100 years including 532 year-old Usha Jamgade. ...

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/7 ... 277312.ece?
 
By cycle do they mean bicycles or unicycles? I think by the time you reach your 8th century you should be slowing down a bit.
 
Maybe they are actually young people who count previous incarnations?
 
A gentleman in Brazil is allegedly 131 (which sounds a little doubtful). Even if the paperwork is genuine, who's to say it refers to him and not, say, his father/grandfather?

Civil servants in Brazil say they have discovered the world’s oldest man - a 131-year-old dad-of-three living with a wife 69 years his junior.

The Guinness Book of Records recognises 112-year-old Yasutaro Koide from Japan as the oldest person alive.

And Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who died aged 122 in 1997, holds the record for the world’s longest living person.

Social security workers in Acre in the north of Brazil today caused furore by publishing photos of OAP Joao Coelho de Souza alongside a birth certificate dated March 10 1884.

The document showed he was born in the city of Meruoca in Ceara nearly 2,000 miles to the east of Acre.

A colleague of a civil servant who made a routine visit to confirm he was still alive and therefore eligible for his pension posted the information on his Facebook .

He called on the state government to confirm the find and register Joao for the Guinness Book of Records.

Brazilian papers today said he lived with a wife aged 62 and a granddaughter aged 16 in a village called Estirao do Alcantara, a 30-minute boat ride away from Sena Madureira, a municipality in the centre of the state of Acre.


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/worlds-oldest-man-aged-131-7173272
 
When I was in uni, one of the lecturers there a Chilean physiologist, who'd had to get out during the Pinochet era, and was believe me no flake. Swore that there was a region in the Andes where people routinely reached ages in excess of 130.

I don't believe it personally.
 
I remember Alejandro Jodorowsky saying something like, ''you must have ambition, my ambition is to live to 300!''. I think his point was it's important to reach for the highest most impossible things, and something along the lines of ''I might not live another year but I have ambition!''
I share Jodorowsky's ambition but I plan to reach 500. I told my wife a couple years ago that I don't accept death, and you must never accept it as inevitable like we are all taught and brought up to believe, it's embedded in our consciousness that all things must die. She didn't share my opinion, and added it to my list of eccentricities.
 
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