By Tajeram Mohabir

There are just a few Guyanese who are currently over the magical 100, and Joseph Augustus Musa is among them.Born on December 8, 1913, Musa who is now visually-impaired is 102, and God’s willing, would be 103 in December.
The Ogle Front, East Coast Demerara resident is being cared for by his daughter Barbara Musa and granddaughter Sandra King, who grew

up under his watch.
When the Guyana Chronicle visited Musa on Thursday, he had just woken up and was being attended to by his granddaughter King.
She related that her grandfather, from time to time, holds long conversations of life in his earlier days, but it happens when he is in the mood.
Nowadays, Musa only remembers the names of his close relatives, notably those who take care of him.
He was born at Long Creek, an Indigenous village deep in the Demerara River to a mother of Indigenous extraction and a father who was of African origin.
In his younger days, he worked as a stevedore and as a logger part-time. According to King, many times her grandfather related to her his adventures transporting logs down river, all by himself.
“He used to tell me that it was a long journey and hard work. He used to transport the big logs in a boat driven by himself from the Berbice River to Georgetown.
“He used to tell us that in the pitch black night, all sorts of strange sounds could be heard on the river, you could hardly tell what from what, but anything which came close to his boat without warning was in peril.”
Coming from a poor family, Musa had to drop out of school to support his siblings and he worked hard in his younger days to make ends meet.
Barbara could not remember at what age her father got married, but noted that from what was told to her, he was in his fifties when he tied the knot.
His marriage produced two children; his wife died many years ago at age 72.
But aside from the two born in wedlock, he had three other children, one of whom has since died.
“My grandfather was a ‘Sweetboy’ in his days; he was a peaceful, humble and honest man, but had plenty women and used to regale us with all sorts of stories of people who he encountered.
Musa retired as a stevedore at age 60, and upon retirement, he worked as a security guard until he was 70, when Barbara urged him to stop working.
At his advance age, Musa suffers from no known illness and King credited his longevity to being an honest and peaceful man and for his love for wild meat.
This publication was told that the elderly man in his younger days had a deep love for Pepperpot which used to include, labba, turtle and alligator tail.
Today, he stays off that heavy diet and settles for more manageable foods.