My Great Grandma Lived for 105 Years!
My Dad's grandma, Boru Sijabat, from my paternal side lived for 105 years. Her husband lived a little shorter than her. Both were unable to read and write like myself. They didn't go to school, it was during the colonial time in Indonesia. They were born before the Dutch government invaded Batak Land in North Sumatra.
Boru Sijabat then was to have one of her daughter, pretty young girl who also didn't make it to go to school, being married to a soldier who joined the Indonesian military power to fight against the Dutch colonial government. Later then, this son-in-law was to be one of the well known general in the country, A.E. Manihuruk.
Even A.E. Manihuruk and his wife, the daughter of my great grandmother were not centenarians like Boru Sijabat, the mother/mother-in-law. Why? What could be the reasons? Is this a typical phenomenon or is this a global phenomenon in the world as well?
My grandpa is the brother of A.E. Manihuruk's wife, his brother-in-law. My grandpa is of Sihaloho, like myself. I inherit my last name from my grandpa according to my ethnic culture. My grandpa was an illiterate man, he neither read nor write in Latin. I never asked if he did read or write in Batak since as Bataks, we do have our own alphabetical letters different than the Latin. We use Latin alphabetical to write and read in Indonesian language as our lingua franca across the archipelago right before the independent day in 1945.
Interestingly, both my grandparents from my paternal side did not even speak Indonesian language, only Toba Batak language, our ethnic and local dialect. Indonesia as a country has more than 300 local/ethnic dialects, the reason why we must have a lingua franca, Indonesian language to unite us all as a nation.
Why Later Generations Live Shorter?
Why later generations live rather shorter than their ancestors? What can be the reasons? Are these to do with the stress and various challenges in the modern era, lack of natural and healthy food taken on a daily basis, lack of fresh air in the urban areas? It doesn't make sense since these later generations, since they are (formally) educated, so-called, supposed to being smarter in navigating their life compared to the parents and grandparents, right?
Not so long ago, one of Boru Sijabat's grandson, Uda Kander Sihaloho, passed away after having been battling against cancer for months. He was a civil servant in the country and passed away before reaching his retirement; passed away before he was even 58 years of age. Compare how many years he missed by knowing that his grandmother made it to 105 years!
Kander, the grandson, did made it to university! While his grandmother, Boru Sijabat, never knew what schooling was, couldn't even read and write in Latin as Kander did. Boru Sijabat was able to enjoy seeing not only her grandchildren but also her great grandchildren while Kander, her grandson was not even to see his own grandchildren despite his highly formal educational achievement.
