Mrs. Xe is embroidering a Pieu scarf
After being introduced by local officials to us, correspondents, as the eldest person in Muong Lum, Mrs Xe laughed, stood up and went to the back of the house then came back with a water pot. She put the pot on the cooking fire, put more wood underneath and began talking with us.
We were very surprised to meet a 121-year-old woman who could still walk normally, do household jobs, and even work that many people over 50 years couldn’t, such as threading needles to embroider Pieu scarves, the traditional scarf of the Thai people.
As though reading our thoughts, Lo Van Dau, vice chairman of the Yen Chau People’s Committee, confirmed: “I made sure that she is 121 years old and the eldest person in Muong Lum”.
Leaving Mrs Xe’s house, we came to the house of another woman, Mrs Hoang Thi Hom. Mrs Hom is an old woman with a wrinkled but ruddy face and white-haired. She is 110 years old now, and still has a sound mind.
She said that she has 17 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren, and named each of them very clearly. We double-checked her, and found she didn’t forget any grandchild or great-grandchild, even the smallest, who is several months old. She still helps do the cooking for her grandchildren.
During the course of that day, we met many more old people, many of whom had children in their 80s.
That night we stayed at the house of Lo Duc Tien, a local official. While drinking maize wine, he said: “If you came here early this year, you would have met many other old people. Since early this year, four of them have passed away”.
In the morning on the next day, he led them to the house of Mr Quang Van Xuong. Mr Xuong was very weak at that time. He was very happy to see us. He gave us several maize ears and told us to eat. Mr Xuong has only one adopted child, who goes to the field every day and only returns when the sun goes down.
In the garden behind the house, an old woman was picking young maize ears to put into a papoose. As the papoose was full, she carried the papoose up to the stilt house. She placed the maize papoose near the cooking fire and boiling water. Her name is Lo Thi Huoi and she is also very old but very healthy. Every day, she goes to her garden (around 500m from the house) to take care of the maize.
Mr Xuong and Ms Huoi have lived together for many decades. In the old house on stilts, they told us the story of ancient days, when they were 15 or 16 years old. “When I was young, I loved Mrs Hom (the same age with Mr Xuong) and wanted to marry her but her family refused me. She is now stronger than me”.
When we asked them about Mrs Xe, both Mrs Huoi and Mrs Hom said that Mrs Xe was older than them because when they were small, Mrs Xe got married already.
It is difficult to define exactly the age of those old people in Muong Lum valley but they are all over 100 years old and their children are more than 80-90 already.
The family of Mr Xuong and Mrs Huoi is not the only example of a spouse of over 100 years old. In this valley of over 300 families, there is another spouse where the husband is 110 years old, Mr Ha Xo Minh, and the wife is 105 years old, Mrs Ha Thi Oi.
Copyright © Global Action on Aging
July 14, 2006
VIET NAM: Six Are of Over 100 Years in the Valley of Old People
HANOI (VietnamNet), July 14, 2006:
The number of people in the world who are one hundred years of age and older is small. But in Muong Lum valley in Yen Chau district, the northern mountainous province of Son La, there are at least six people who are still healthy at an age of over 100.
The Muong Lum valley is not so different from other valleys in the northern mountainous region: it is surrounded by immense forests, fields of rice, maize and cassava with stilt houses of the Thai and Mong ethnic groups.
The first house we visited was an old house on stilts. All members were away; only one old woman was sitting near a cooking fire. She was Mrs Ha Thi Xe.
Local officials had to organise several meetings before they could determine that Mrs Xe was the oldest person in Muong Luom - at the age of 121.
Mrs. Xe is embroidering a Pieu scarf
After being introduced by local officials to us, correspondents, as the eldest person in Muong Lum, Mrs Xe laughed, stood up and went to the back of the house then came back with a water pot. She put the pot on the cooking fire, put more wood underneath and began talking with us.
We were very surprised to meet a 121-year-old woman who could still walk normally, do household jobs, and even work that many people over 50 years couldn’t, such as threading needles to embroider Pieu scarves, the traditional scarf of the Thai people.
As though reading our thoughts, Lo Van Dau, vice chairman of the Yen Chau People’s Committee, confirmed: “I made sure that she is 121 years old and the eldest person in Muong Lum”.
Leaving Mrs Xe’s house, we came to the house of another woman, Mrs Hoang Thi Hom. Mrs Hom is an old woman with a wrinkled but ruddy face and white-haired. She is 110 years old now, and still has a sound mind.
She said that she has 17 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren, and named each of them very clearly. We double-checked her, and found she didn’t forget any grandchild or great-grandchild, even the smallest, who is several months old. She still helps do the cooking for her grandchildren.
During the course of that day, we met many more old people, many of whom had children in their 80s.
That night we stayed at the house of Lo Duc Tien, a local official. While drinking maize wine, he said: “If you came here early this year, you would have met many other old people. Since early this year, four of them have passed away”.
In the morning on the next day, he led them to the house of Mr Quang Van Xuong. Mr Xuong was very weak at that time. He was very happy to see us. He gave us several maize ears and told us to eat. Mr Xuong has only one adopted child, who goes to the field every day and only returns when the sun goes down.
In the garden behind the house, an old woman was picking young maize ears to put into a papoose. As the papoose was full, she carried the papoose up to the stilt house. She placed the maize papoose near the cooking fire and boiling water. Her name is Lo Thi Huoi and she is also very old but very healthy. Every day, she goes to her garden (around 500m from the house) to take care of the maize.
Mr Xuong and Ms Huoi have lived together for many decades. In the old house on stilts, they told us the story of ancient days, when they were 15 or 16 years old. “When I was young, I loved Mrs Hom (the same age with Mr Xuong) and wanted to marry her but her family refused me. She is now stronger than me”.
When we asked them about Mrs Xe, both Mrs Huoi and Mrs Hom said that Mrs Xe was older than them because when they were small, Mrs Xe got married already.
It is difficult to define exactly the age of those old people in Muong Lum valley but they are all over 100 years old and their children are more than 80-90 already.
The family of Mr Xuong and Mrs Huoi is not the only example of a spouse of over 100 years old. In this valley of over 300 families, there is another spouse where the husband is 110 years old, Mr Ha Xo Minh, and the wife is 105 years old, Mrs Ha Thi Oi.
Copyright © Global Action on Aging
Mrs. Xe is embroidering a Pieu scarf
After being introduced by local officials to us, correspondents, as the eldest person in Muong Lum, Mrs Xe laughed, stood up and went to the back of the house then came back with a water pot. She put the pot on the cooking fire, put more wood underneath and began talking with us.
We were very surprised to meet a 121-year-old woman who could still walk normally, do household jobs, and even work that many people over 50 years couldn’t, such as threading needles to embroider Pieu scarves, the traditional scarf of the Thai people.
As though reading our thoughts, Lo Van Dau, vice chairman of the Yen Chau People’s Committee, confirmed: “I made sure that she is 121 years old and the eldest person in Muong Lum”.
Leaving Mrs Xe’s house, we came to the house of another woman, Mrs Hoang Thi Hom. Mrs Hom is an old woman with a wrinkled but ruddy face and white-haired. She is 110 years old now, and still has a sound mind.
She said that she has 17 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren, and named each of them very clearly. We double-checked her, and found she didn’t forget any grandchild or great-grandchild, even the smallest, who is several months old. She still helps do the cooking for her grandchildren.
During the course of that day, we met many more old people, many of whom had children in their 80s.
That night we stayed at the house of Lo Duc Tien, a local official. While drinking maize wine, he said: “If you came here early this year, you would have met many other old people. Since early this year, four of them have passed away”.
In the morning on the next day, he led them to the house of Mr Quang Van Xuong. Mr Xuong was very weak at that time. He was very happy to see us. He gave us several maize ears and told us to eat. Mr Xuong has only one adopted child, who goes to the field every day and only returns when the sun goes down.
In the garden behind the house, an old woman was picking young maize ears to put into a papoose. As the papoose was full, she carried the papoose up to the stilt house. She placed the maize papoose near the cooking fire and boiling water. Her name is Lo Thi Huoi and she is also very old but very healthy. Every day, she goes to her garden (around 500m from the house) to take care of the maize.
Mr Xuong and Ms Huoi have lived together for many decades. In the old house on stilts, they told us the story of ancient days, when they were 15 or 16 years old. “When I was young, I loved Mrs Hom (the same age with Mr Xuong) and wanted to marry her but her family refused me. She is now stronger than me”.
When we asked them about Mrs Xe, both Mrs Huoi and Mrs Hom said that Mrs Xe was older than them because when they were small, Mrs Xe got married already.
It is difficult to define exactly the age of those old people in Muong Lum valley but they are all over 100 years old and their children are more than 80-90 already.
The family of Mr Xuong and Mrs Huoi is not the only example of a spouse of over 100 years old. In this valley of over 300 families, there is another spouse where the husband is 110 years old, Mr Ha Xo Minh, and the wife is 105 years old, Mrs Ha Thi Oi.
Copyright © Global Action on Aging
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