Cel­e­bra­tions were post­poned for Rat­ta­nee Per­sad who turned o102 on April 9 as the cen­te­nar­i­an was hos­pi­tal­ized due to COVID-19.

How­ev­er, of­fi­cials of the Min­istry of So­cial De­vel­op­ment were able to vis­it Per­sad on Fri­day to cel­e­brate her mile­stone.

In­spec­tor I of the Di­vi­sion of Age­ing, Janin­ka Gomes vis­it­ed the cen­te­nar­i­an to de­liv­er her Cer­tifi­cate of Ho­n­our and Achieve­ment, a food ham­per, and a birth­day cake spon­sored by the Kiss Bak­ing Com­pa­ny and was thrilled to see that Per­sad was in good health to re­ceive her to­kens of ap­pre­ci­a­tion.

The Min­istry said it learned that mask-wear­ing is not new to Per­sad. Ac­cord­ing to rel­a­tives, this is not her first pan­dem­ic as she re­mem­bers liv­ing through a past pan­dem­ic where masks al­so had to be worn at that time.

Asked about her se­cret to liv­ing be­yond 100, Per­sad at­trib­uted healthy eat­ing to her longevi­ty.

With more than enough years of ex­pe­ri­ence, Per­sad ad­vised the younger gen­er­a­tion that ed­u­ca­tion is the key.

“No idling, be pro­duc­tive. Ed­u­ca­tion is im­por­tant and prayers” said Per­sad.

The moth­er of eight said she grew up in Fe­lic­i­ty but moved to Clax­ton Bay ap­prox­i­mate­ly 15 years ago.

She in­di­cat­ed that she is proud to see her chil­dren grow up and have good jobs and she is al­so proud to be able to see her grand­chil­dren and great-grand­chil­dren.

She fur­ther in­di­cat­ed that her par­ents were cane cut­ters and like­wise in the field of agri­cul­ture, reared an­i­mals, gar­dened, and sold her pro­duce.

The Min­istry of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices said it was pleased to ho­n­our Per­sad and en­cour­age fam­i­ly and loved ones, Mem­bers of Par­lia­ment, Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment rep­re­sen­ta­tives, friends, and neigh­bours to salute our na­tion’s cen­te­nar­i­ans by reg­is­ter­ing for the Pro­gramme.

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