RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Pe­ter Delysia may be 100 years old but his ad­vanced age doesn’t stop him from go­ing down on his knees every day and thank­ing God for his life.

Delysia, of New Vil­lage, Point Fortin, is one of three cen­te­nar­i­ans who wor­ship at the St Mark’s An­gli­can Church in Techi­er Vil­lage. In an ex­clu­sive in­ter­view with Guardian Me­dia, he said the se­cret to a long life is his de­vo­tion to God.

“It is God who has me alive. The Lord keeps me alive,” Delysia said smil­ing.

He ex­plained that he came to Trinidad from St Vin­cent 70 years ago, leav­ing be­hind his fam­i­ly. Back then things were tough in St Vin­cent and Delysia said he got a job spray­ing mos­qui­toes for Shell. He lat­er fell in love with Pa­tri­cia, a mi­grant from Grena­da, whom he mar­ried and they had five chil­dren.

“I met her in Point Fortin. She was stay­ing with her aunt and I saw her and de­cid­ed to mar­ry her,” he re­called.

Delysia said he re­turned to St Vin­cent many times. He said St Vin­cent is spe­cial to him but is noth­ing like Trinidad .

“But I al­so like it here. Point Fortin is a nice place,” he said.

Not one to be stressed, Delysia of­fered no ad­vice to youths.

“I don’t know what ad­vice to give. There is plen­ty of crime to­day,” he said.

Now a wid­ow­er, Delysia said he hoped to live for a few more years.

His el­dest daugh­ter Jen­nifer Charles, 63, at­trib­uted his long life to his di­et and his de­vo­tion.

“He goes down on his knees every day and prays. Our young ones do lie down on the bed and say prayers. When you go down on your knees the Lord will make you live long,” Charles said.

She said her fa­ther loved dasheen, cas­sa­va, salt fish and smoke her­ring. 

“He doesn’t like chick­en or soup, broth or rice. He likes to choose. When he gets up, we give him his tablets, he eats his break­fast and he will lie down. He eats cake and ice-cream. He loves that,” she added.

She ex­plained that one of the things she ad­mired about her fa­ther is his calm de­meanour.

“My fa­ther doesn’t talk a lot. He doesn’t fuss for any­thing. He just there, wait­ing for the time,” she said.

Delysia suf­fers from di­a­betes and hy­per­ten­sion as well as a prostate con­di­tion. 

“His heart is very good and even at his ad­vanced age, he can still read,” Charles said.

She said Delysia had ten chil­dren, five in St Vin­cent and five in Trinidad.

“He has 16 grand­chil­dren and 35 great-grand­chil­dren. Four of his five chil­dren in St Vin­cent have pre-de­ceased him. He kept in touch with all his chil­dren and his five chil­dren in Trinidad are all alive,” she said.

Parish priest of the St Mark’s An­gli­can Church at Techi­er Vil­lage Rev Harold Dick­er­son, who vis­it­ed Delysia for his birth­day, said he was the third cen­te­nar­i­an in the parish this year. 

“It’s an ho­n­our for us that three peo­ple are cel­e­brat­ing 100 years this year. I feel en­er­gised and ready to go to cel­e­brate them,” he said.

Dick­er­son said many peo­ple had lost their lives be­cause of COVID-19 and it was a bless­ing to see Delysia live so long.