Latest update April 7th, 2025 6:08 AM
Centenarian Ellen Benny misses the sounds of life
… appeals for hearing-aid
Ellen Benny is 101. She lives at Lot 25 Number Two Village, East Canje, Berbice. She worked tirelessly in her younger days, in the back dam and on her parents’ Letter Kenny farm but inherited nothing since it was the custom in those days to bequeath material possessions, land and properties to the sons.
Her parents, Babe and Bissessar Singh, were very affluent people who dealt in cattle and rice farming at Letter Kenny, Corentyne, and who owned large acreages of land and farming equipment.
Ellen Benny and her son, Edmond
The old lady’s son, Edmond and her granddaughter, Angela, said that most of Benny’s relatives have forgotten that she is around, especially now during her times of need.
“She worked like a jackass—to go down the back dam, milk cow—and she would be in the donkey cart, steering it—go down to Port Mourant and sell milk and buy ration and come back home. She punished and grow—everything she worked [for] and none of the sisters got anything—the brothers got all. She ain’t got nobody but me. She got families abroad –her nieces and nephews—but they do not come!
“Most of them come here when she was younger, whenever they were sick or had accident. They came here and spend time—weeks and days.”
Her son said that Ellen Benny has more than 30 grandchildren. She has only one surviving brother and two sisters, all of whom reside overseas. She is not in communication with any of them.
HER LIFE
The centenarian, who is hearing-impaired, recalled, “Me plant rice…all wuk I do.” She attended school only for a short while and later married Benny at age 17. He died at age 75, more than 28 years ago. The union produced three boys and two girls: Edmond is the only surviving child. She was employed by the sugar estate, and recalls, “me do shovel work and weed grass”.
Gwennie, Somal, Daris and Sonya were all her workmates, she related.
“Me mudda them set it up,” she said when she was asked about the start of the union with Benny. She saw her husband for the first time on her wedding day, after which they moved to Number Two Village.
“Me don’t eat beef, pork or unscale fish—I like eat good fish, snapper and thing and greens—baigan, bhajee,” she noted.
“When me a walk me does blow,” she said, a reference to her shortness of breath. She has also lost much of her sight. Her son takes her to Dr. Ramsackal from time to time for health check- ups. “She doesn’t visit steady—only when she feels unwell,” her son said. He would also take her from time to time to a Hindu temple in the village.
“She does help herself, but in terms of cooking and so on, I does have to cook and bring…She does not complain that she wants this or that. For as long as I know her, she worked hard. She used to work in the back dam, leaving morning and come back in the night.
“Since me know my mother, she never sport and drink rum—just a straightforward housewife—dedicated. That’s the way I know her. And my father was a quite simple man—the only thing about daddy, is when he drink rum. He like to drink he rum.”
FOND MEMORIES
Edmond, 66, stated that he is indeed thankful to see his mother reach 100 years. She celebrated her 101st birth anniversary on New Year’s Day.
He said that his mother “likes to drink tea bad—about three to four times [per day]. Her (specialty) is the ground coffee—that is what we grew on. She like her tea and we never out of tea and when she get up she drinks tea and she gives us.”
During his younger days, he recalled, his mother sent him to school barefeet as they could not have afforded footwear. “When I don’t want to go school, she beat me and drag me and lift me up, carry me in front of the school. She made sure I got my education. She call the big boys and me feel embarrass.
“I had one pants and one shirt; she washed it night time and I wear the next day.”
His mother, he noted, was also a disciplinarian. Any misbehaviour and there would be no cinema outings for him and his siblings in the weekend. “We use to go see Indian pictures Saturday night,” he noted.
He made a special appeal for a hearing aid for his mother so that she can hear clearly what they say to her. He also wants her to enjoy the sounds around her which he believes can enliven her spirits since she is almost tuned out from the world.
“This old lady needs a little help,” he appealed.
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