It was obvious that Mrs. Lydia Adeyemi was old but she did not look anything 100 as she sauntered across the room to meet our correspondents. She had a steady gait and her voice was audible. In this interview with GBENRO ADEOYE and TUNDE AJAJA, she speaks about her life and what she remembered of the last century.
Many people would wish to clock 100 years like you, how does it feel?
Only God can give the power to live long because it is beyond human power. No man has total control over his life or the power to decide how long he wants to live. It is only what God says over someone’s life that would come to pass. So, I give God the glory because it is beyond me.
Even at 100, you still look agile, what do you do differently?
I eat light food in the morning and a heavier one in the night. I eat pounded yam frequently, as an Ijesa woman. Basically, I watch what I eat, and apart from that, I don’t do anything differently. And I thank God I don’t fall ill. I’m sound the way Christ has planned it for me.
Do you still have friends, like age mates that you grew up together with who are also alive?
There is none again, as much as I know; they have all died. I can’t really say if there are still such people of my age in the town where I come from, but in the church that I attend here, the very old have retired to their homes and the ones that still come to church are younger than I am.
Do you have friends, that is, people you go to visit or persons that come to visit you?
My family members, children, grandchildren and relatives come to visit me because they are my friends now. Some people in the church also come to visit me, even though they are younger than me, but they are more or less my friends.
Now that you are 100 years old, how long would you like to live?
It depends on what God wants. I’m only waiting for his time. The only thing on my mind is to make heaven.
What fond memories do you have about your growing up?
When we were young, one of the things we looked forward to was celebrating our birthday because our parents used to mark it for us. As our birthdays approached, we would be very happy because our parents used to give us chicken heads, specially. So, it was a day we looked forward to because it was only the celebrant that would eat the head and nobody would contest that with him/her.
We learnt you loved nursing as a profession when you were young. How do you feel that you didn’t become a nurse eventually?
I believe God didn’t want me to study Nursing. When I was in Standard three, there was a time I fell ill and I was taken to the hospital. The doctor who attended to me pleaded with my father that he should allow me to stay with him for some time so he could teach me some things about nursing, but my father refused because he thought if I was taken abroad, he might not see me again. I wasn’t even told about it at that time, but later when I found out, I was bitter. It was very painful. When I got married, my brother-in-law offered to teach me but we soon left the area we were in Ibadan and so, he couldn’t teach me. It was after that God told me that the best vocation for me was to be self-employed, like an artisan, so I dropped the idea.
How did you know God spoke to you?
If you have a project or a plan in mind, if God is not in support of it, he will tell you not to do it. In fact, you may not be able to do it regardless of how hard you try. God could speak through a man, but the important thing is that he would let you know the danger in what you planned to do, and you may not know his reason then, but usually, such reasons would become obvious later. If a spirit tells you to do something and you oblige and it turns out to be good, then, that is the spirit of God. It is only an evil spirit that would tell someone to do a bad thing. So, the spirit of God is always talking to us, but we have not been hearing from him, coupled with the fact that we have not been serving God enough.
What attracted you to the nursing profession?
I used to admire their dress and outlook, and seeing them used to make me feel happy and I was hoping to be like them someday.
What comes to your mind now when you see nurses here and there, considering your old passion for it?
I had to let go of the dream. In fact, the vocation God committed into my hands was already more lucrative than the nursing profession. When I was still in the knitting business, which God gave me, I knew that what I was realising monthly was more than what some nurses were earning as salary. In fact, I thank God that I didn’t do the nursing, more so that God didn’t want me to do it, because the knitting business was better for me because it was even what God wanted for me.
You were once a teacher. What level of education did you have?
I was in Standard three when my sister took me to live with her. The husband was a catechist, a catholic priest in Erinmo. In the town where we were, there was a new CMS church, with teachers. They used to worship in the house. When we got there, we assembled the children of the elders of the church and taught them, before I went back to school.
How did you and your husband meet?
It happened when I was with my brother-in-law, who was a catechist in the church at the time. Then, we were transferred to another town, Iwara. We used to refer to the church head as the head teacher and the school teachers were called junior teachers. When we got there, they were on holiday. But when school resumed, one of the junior teachers came to greet us, and right there, the spirit of God told me that was the person I would marry. I wondered why me because he was a short man. Later, when I went back home to learn a trade, I used to have some friends and a preacher that we played and prayed together. The servant of God among us used to assemble us for prayer if there was any bad occurrence. So the person told us to fast for three days and that God would show us whom to marry. We were all youths of the same age range. I had mine, and in the vision, it was the same short man that came towards me with a Bible in his hand. My prayer about the person I wanted to marry had always been that God should give me someone who would join me to serve God, not necessarily a pastor, but someone who feared God. So, when I saw the man walking towards me with Bible in his hand, I woke up. I prayed that if that was the way God wanted it, he should let it stand, and it stood.
How did the two of you eventually start dating?
We were living on the same street, so we were not far from each other. It was after that he went to Ilesha Grammar School to continue his education and he was in the school’s first set, where he became the first head boy. So many people used to abuse me for going out with someone who was still in school then.
How old were you when you got married?
I was 19 years old when we started courting, that was in 1933. We courted for five years and got married in 1938. In those days, it was not allowed for people who were courting to go out together, until they got married, unlike what we have now. The much we could do then was if he visited me at home, I could accompany him to a short distance away from home, after which I would be expected back home. That was the norm. In fact, the shame would not allow anybody to go out with someone he/she was not married to. We were married for 60 years before he died in 1998.
How did you handle the trauma when he died?
If you have a friend who died, it could be painful, let alone, a partner whom you have lived closely with. There was nothing I could do about it than accept fate.
Many couples of nowadays find it difficult to live together for that length of time, what was the secret that sustained your own marriage for that long?
We believed and relied on God to make it work. If the couples of these days can unite in their wishes, commit their ways into God’s hands and pray fervently, it will work. They should also have faith in God and their partners.
You used to supply some major companies some materials then. How would you compare the knitting business then and now?
It was during the civil war when the borders were closed and people could not import or place an order for items. Then, I used to supply sweaters to schools but when the borders were closed and importation was banned, that was when I was supplying some of the big firms and they too were selling.
When you said God told you that you should go into knitting and sewing, how did you start?
In those days, the commonest occupation of most wives of catechists was either sewing or dry-cleaning, and my sister whom I stayed with was one of them and she taught me the two. But because it was a rural community and we were moving from one farm to the other, we were not exposed to the modern styles. So, I went to Ilesha for three months training. When I finished from there, I started my own business. Later, I went to London, on government’s account. Government sent us to go and learn knitting. When I came back from London, I couldn’t combine knitting with sewing, so, I had a factory with about fifteen workers.
What have you been doing since you retired?
I retired in 1982. And since then, I have been serving the Lord and relaxing.
Did you send your children to school from the proceeds from knitting?
Their father sent them to school, and he was very passionate about children, including his nephews and nieces, more than one could simply imagine. He took delight in taking them to school and bringing them back. Our house used to be like a students’ hostel during the holidays. I thank God the children are all fine. I wish he lived longer.
In which community did you grow up?
When I left my mother’s place, I went to Erinmo Ijesha before I went to Iwara. The catechists then were posted to the interior villages of Ilesha. It was when I left Ilesha that I learnt sewing and I started on my own before I got married and we moved to the North.
Since you lived in the North for some time, how do you feel these days when you hear about the terrorism and instability there?
When my husband was posted there, there was no Christian where we were posted to then, and we lived in peace with everyone. I remember that our church was in Sabon Gari, and those who had bicycles would come because there were no cars then. The only car that used to pass through the place to Sokoto only went once in a week, after which anyone who wished to travel would wait till the following week.
If you are to compare the life you lived then, when there were no cars with now when there are cars, aeroplanes, and so on, would you have preferred to be born in this generation?
I prefer the kind of life we lived then to the one you people are living now. We even walked distances that were as far as 20 miles, so we didn’t see it as something barbaric. The children of nowadays cannot even dare to trek 10 miles let alone embark on a longer journey. Then, we had peace of mind, strength and much energy. Any child now will find it difficult to walk from Agege to Oshodi. However, I wish I was born in the days before my own. Whenever I read about the miracles that God did, I used to feel hurt because I wish I was born when Jesus was on earth. I would have loved to see Jesus one on one, but I saw him eventually, because in 1930, i realise that there was no miracle in the Bible that did not happen again.
How would you compare the Nigeria you knew when growing up and what we have now?
Well, in my view, things were better than the way they are now because there was no problem or unnecessary fear among the people. In fact, one could successfully walk from here to Lagos Island in the midnight and nothing would happen, which anyone cannot try today because it’s not safe.
Before God showed you the man you would marry, did you have some suitors then?
I had three Ayodeles as suitors, they were all teachers and the three of them were not far from me, but he (my husband) was the one I chose.
What memory do you have about Nigeria’s independence, in terms of the expectations?
Not all of us were educated, so, it was a mixed experience and expectation. Basically, it was those who, probably were educated, and knew what independence meant that would understand better and know what to expect. For those that were not educated, I think our major expectation then was that God should allow what would be the best for us. Individuals and interest groups had different expectations.
If you look back, is there anything you wish you had done when you were younger?
I can’t remember any. My focus has always been for me to hear from God, talk to Him and for Him to listen to me.
How many children would you have loved to have?
In those days, we only relied on what God chose to give. I could not dictate to God, we only prayed that he should give us the best.
With all you have seen in this world, what is your advice to the children of today?
They should serve God, and they will prosper. The children of today now know more than us, but they should learn from those above them and love God with all their heart and He will direct them.
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