IN JAMAICA: Gertrude Daley, 102, walked from Portland to Kingston barefooted....."Mi carry load on mi head, walking from down where mi live - from Montpelier (St Andrew Hills) to Ray Piece in Portland"

Gertrude Pounall Daley

Tomorrow, Gertrude Pounall Daley will celebrate her 102nd birthday.

The centenarian, who never once fell ill throughout those years, is able to recall the very dates of important events in her life.

Daley, who was born in Montpelier, St Andrew, spoke easily about the days of walking from St Andrew to Portland then back to Kingston barefooted with loads on her head and the incidents surrounding her three marriages. "Mi carry load on mi head, walking from down where mi live - from Montpelier (St Andrew Hills) to Ray Piece in Portland to buy load put it on mi head and walk from there go to Kingston go sell it," Daley recalled. "And then walk come home," she added.

Gertrude and her 4 siblings

"And mi have to walk because that time we never have any vehicle ... walk with the load go and come. Because if you never sell off you have to walk back with what was left," she stated. She said that poverty was so rampant that she could not afford a pair of 'crepe' that cost six pence at the time. "And we had to walk over whole heap of hill and gully, and you foot bun you," she stated. more