The Dominica Council on Ageing (DCOA) will, for the first time, celebrate Centenarian Day according to President of the DCOA, Ophelia Olivaccé-Marie.
The event forms part of the month of the elderly observed under the theme: “Older Persons – Embracing the Digital Age”.
“It is 17 years since we are observing the Month of the Elderly, but is the first time that we have a day for centenarians and at that time I am sure we will have the opportunity to tell them how we love them, how we regard them highly and how we recognize the work that they have done,” she said. “Some of them are still doing so by virtue of teaching from the wealth of sagest or wisdom that they have inherited, on account of their long lives and also from the intervention of the creator.”
She continued, “We are really very proud of them, most of them are very well and very well taken care of as well, we have high respect for them and they enjoy when people pay attention to them and they have great stories to tell when you get to talk to them.”
Olivaccé-Marie went on to state that Covid-19 is preventing the council from having some of those things, but their caregivers are very devoted and do the best that they can for these centenarians.
She made special mention of second vice President and the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the council Leroy ‘Wadix’ Charles who is the person who spearheaded the entire effort.
“People will be able to read about them in our Facebook pages and we will also perhaps hear some of their voices on the radio,” she stated.
Olivaccé-Marie thanked the centenarians and prayed that God gives them long life, because in truth and in fact Dominica has the highest per capita of centenarians.
“There is something to be said about the privileges and favour that we have received from the most high,” she noted.
Meantime, PRO of the DCOA Charles said the centenarians are part of Dominica’s greatest gifts and treasures.
“They represent an intriguing model for healthy aging with a deep-rooted spirituality, an impeccable sense of humor, eternal optimism and a treasury of wisdom and this is why the Council on Ageing will be holding for the first time our Centenarians Day,” he stated.
He pointed out that Dominica is blessed with 23 centenarians, “so we will be celebrating our special centenarians’ day on Thursday September 23rd.”
Charles said the council looks forward to working with all the media houses and all media platforms to evangelize Dominica’s 23 centenarians, “to learn about their past times, their hobbies, their diets, what community they came from, their form of occupation and together with their families and friends we will be saluting our gems, our wonderful centenarians.”
“We will be showing them love, the council will be giving each of them a small stipend and we are really looking forward to their caretakers, pampering them and sending the images and sending the images to the office so that we can further send it out to our various mediums,” he indicated.
The council looks forward to the entire nation to shower the centenarians with prayers.
“We love them so much; they mean so much to us and so much to our existence. They are our legacy,” Charles said.
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