“Don’t let any­one take ad­van­tage of you. Al­ways know your own self-worth…”

That ad­vice from this coun­try’s newest cen­te­nar­i­an, To­ba­go-born Ira Chris­tiana Kit­son, who cel­e­brat­ed her 100th birth­day at her Mar­aval home on Oc­to­ber 15, 2022.  She is the lat­est per­son to be ho­n­oured un­der the Na­tion­al Cen­te­nar­i­an Pro­gramme.

Of­fer­ing strong words of ad­vice, Ms Kit­son as­sert­ed that the cy­cle of de­pen­dence must be bro­ken as, af­ter be­ing wid­owed, she took care of her chil­dren and built her home with­out de­pend­ing on oth­ers.

“As a young woman, be self-suf­fi­cient and don’t re­ly on hand­outs from your male coun­ter­parts,” the cen­te­nar­i­an ad­vis­es.”

“Every cit­i­zen of this gen­er­a­tion should help to build up this coun­try.  Stop in-fight­ing and show love for one an­oth­er in what­ev­er way pos­si­ble. Your fam­i­ly lega­cy must be able to break the cy­cle of de­pen­den­cy. Stop reach­ing your hand out to take and reach your hands to lift up your na­tion. God helps those who help them­selves,” she said.

When asked about her se­cret to longevi­ty, Ms Kit­son—fond­ly called Ira—in­di­cat­ed that it is God and God alone.

“God, and God alone, has been re­spon­si­ble for my life, all one hun­dred years of it,” she de­clared.  “When I be­came a wid­ow ear­ly in my mar­riage, it could on­ly have been God who helped me to look af­ter a tod­dler and a babe in arms as a young sin­gle par­ent.”

“My di­et was al­so the well-bal­anced nu­tri­tious di­et that we ate in those days and not the fast food that is the cus­tom nowa­days” she added.

The moth­er of two, grand­moth­er and great-grand­moth­er of three, al­so pro­vid­ed some in­sight in­to her life grow­ing up.

“I at­tend­ed pri­ma­ry school in Mo­ri­ah, To­ba­go, where both George To­by, my fa­ther, and James Kit­son, who be­came my fa­ther-in-law, were joint Prin­ci­pals. On mov­ing to Trinidad, I first at­tend­ed St. Rose’s Girls Pri­ma­ry and then Tran­quil­i­ty Gov­ern­ment School.”

Ms Kit­son fur­ther in­di­cat­ed that fol­low­ing the com­ple­tion of Sec­ondary School, she suc­cess­ful­ly com­plet­ed her Diplo­ma and be­gan a brief ca­reer teach­ing in pri­ma­ry schools in Cunu­pia and San Juan.  Af­ter this chap­ter in her life, she went on to pur­sue a ca­reer in the Gov­ern­ment Civ­il Ser­vice in sev­er­al Gov­ern­ment Min­istries be­fore re­tir­ing.

Ira Chris­tiana Kit­son was vis­it­ed by Ernest Web­ster, In­spec­tor I of the Di­vi­sion of Age­ing, who pre­sent­ed the new Cen­te­nar­i­an with her Cer­tifi­cate of Ho­n­our and Achieve­ment, a fruit ham­per, and a birth­day cake spon­sored by the Kiss Bak­ing Com­pa­ny.

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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 ho­n­oured.

The Min­istry is en­cour­ag­ing mem­bers of the pub­lic to salute the cen­te­nar­i­ans in their midst by reg­is­ter­ing for them for the Na­tion­al Cen­te­nar­i­an Pro­gramme. For more in­for­ma­tion, con­tact the Di­vi­sion of Age­ing at 623-2608 (Ext 2001 to 2009), or call 800-OPIC/6742, or vis­it the Min­istry’s web­site at www.so­cial.gov.tt