“The mer­cy of Almighty God, hard labour and good nat­ur­al foods are the se­crets to longevi­ty,” is the ad­vice from cen­te­nar­i­an Don­ald John­son of Moru­ga, who re­cent­ly was ho­n­oured by the Min­istry of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices, as part of its on­go­ing ini­tia­tive, the Na­tion­al Cen­te­nar­i­an Pro­gramme.

Don­ald John­son was vis­it­ed on his 103rd birth­day, yes­ter­day, Tues­day 7 June 2022, by of­fi­cials from the Min­istry—Han­nah Ram­roop-Mil­let, an In­spec­tor I at the Di­vi­sion of Age­ing; and Char­lene Moor­ley, a Fam­i­ly Ser­vice So­cial Work­er at the Na­tion­al Fam­i­ly Ser­vices Di­vi­sion.

The cen­te­nar­i­an, the sec­ond of two to be ho­n­oured this week, was pre­sent­ed with a fruit ham­per, his Cer­tifi­cate of Ho­n­our and Achieve­ment, and a birth­day cake spon­sored by the Kiss Bak­ing Com­pa­ny.

Don­ald John­son grew up in Mandin­go Road, In­di­an Walk, Moru­ga, and is a proud de­scen­dant of the Merikins—African Amer­i­can sol­diers who fought for the British in the war of 1812 and who were giv­en lands in Moru­ga as pay­ment for their ser­vice.

A fa­ther of sev­en chil­dren, grand­fa­ther of 15, great-grand­fa­ther of 20, and great-great-grand­fa­ther of two, Don­ald John­son said the best ad­vice that he can give to the present gen­er­a­tion is to trust God and pray.

“Ho­n­our thy fa­ther and thy moth­er that thy days may be long up­on the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee,” he rec­om­mend­ed, quot­ing Ex­o­dus 20:12.

Mr John­son re­vealed that he nev­er com­plet­ed pri­ma­ry school be­cause he had to work, not­ing that he be­gan work­ing at the age of eight years.

“Work­ing in the for­est pulling wood,” he told those gath­ered at his life’s cel­e­bra­tion.

Ac­cord­ing to the cen­te­nar­i­an, the chil­dren of to­day are for­tu­nate to have im­proved liv­ing con­di­tions and greater ac­cess to re­sources.

“To­day, chil­dren can go to school, and they don't have to work as hard. Peo­ple to­day have cars, lights, wa­ter and a lot of con­ve­niences,” he said.

The Na­tion­al Cen­te­nar­i­an Pro­gramme is an ini­tia­tive of the Min­istry of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices in which per­sons who have at­tained the age of 100 years and over are spe­cial­ly ho­n­oured.  Don­ald John­son is the most re­cent ho­n­ouree, hav­ing achieved 103 years on June 7.

The Min­istry is en­cour­ag­ing fam­i­ly mem­bers and loved ones, Mem­bers of Par­lia­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment rep­re­sen­ta­tives, as well as friends and neigh­bours to salute the cen­te­nar­i­ans in their midst by reg­is­ter­ing for them for the Na­tion­al Cen­te­nar­i­an Pro­gramme.

Com­plete the on­line form or print a down­load­able form for com­ple­tion at the Min­istry’s web­site at www.so­cial.gov.tt

Com­plet­ed forms may be dropped off at the near­est So­cial Wel­fare Of­fice, or emailed to the Di­vi­sion of Age­ing at opic@so­cial.gov.tt  

For more in­for­ma­tion, con­tact the Di­vi­sion of Age­ing at 623-2608 (Ext 2001 to 2009), or call 800-OPIC/6742.