Transcripts For BBCNEWS Life Stories 20170414

Bright weather with sunshine, just some showers towards the north and north west of the country. Further south, 1a degrees or so should feel fairly pleasant. It remains cool through the rest of the easter weekend with a mix of sunny spells. For some of us a bit of rain too. Hello. This is bbc news. The headlines the commander of American Forces in afghanistan says dropping his countrys most powerful Non Nuclear Bomb on Islamic State was the right thing to do. This was the right weapon against the right target. We will not relent in our mission to fight alongside oui in our mission to fight alongside our afghan comrades to destroy isis in 2017. A british tourist, thought to be aged in her 20s, has been stabbed to death on a tram in jerusalems old town. A man was arrested at the scene. An operation to move up to 30,000 people from four besieged towns in syria has begun. It comes ahead of talks in russia between the Syrian Regime and its backers. Unions representing half a million teachers say a Funding Shortage is having a big impact on schools in england, as they meet for their annual conferences this weekend. A Lorry Carrying compressed gas has caught fire on the m4 causing long delays during the easter bank holiday. More on the main stories and the rest of the news at the top of the hour. Now on bbc news its time for life stories, in whichjournalist Priscilla Ngethe celebrates her Great Grandmother elizabeths 117th birthday in kenya. Elizabeth was born in 1900 and is thought to be the oldest woman in africa. Welcome to my Great Grandmothers 117th birthday. Right now shes taking pictures of people who have come to see her and celebrate this big day with her. Theres more than 90 years difference between me and her. Shes 117 90 years difference between me and her. Shes117 and im just 23. Im returning to my Ancestral Home in kenya to celebrate remarkable birthday of one of the oldest people in the world. My Great Grandmother, elizabeth. Im here to discover the secrets of her long life as she throws a party and reunites five generations of my family. This is where i was born. Its about ten miles from nairobi, the capital p ten miles from nairobi, the capital p kenya. This fertile land has been home to my family for at least six generations. Today there are hundreds of us, like me, spread around the world. Im returning from my home it london in london to visit a woman very close to my heart, who has never left kenya but has cultivated a global family. Were just heading up to has cultivated a global family. Werejust heading up to my has cultivated a global family. Were just heading up to my great grandmas house. The road is bumpy. Its like a make shift road. This is a shrine where most of my family are buried, my great granddad, my grad dad, his children and five wives. My great grandma is the fifth wife out of six. Were heading up to my great grandmas home. She lives by the side of where any great granddad used to live. Im really excited to see her. There she is. Hi hello. Hello. How are you . Im fine. Good to see you. Good to see you. Its a long time. Long time, many years. This is my Great Grandmother elizabeth. Shes going to be 117. This is my great aunt, irene. Shes here to help me with the translation because i can understand everything my Great Grandmother tells me, but to speak the language is really difficult. Great grandma elizabeth has lived on this last for 90 years. She grew up tending cattle on her fathers farm. Then she moved here as a young bride and raised seven children. She built this house with profits from the farm. My Great Grandmother is proud of her government identity card. It doesnt show the exact month or day that she was born. But it does have the year of birth as 1900. The tribal tradition of age groups gives the same name to all children born in the same year. My Great Grandmother belongs to this age group which means we know she was born some time between 1899 and 1900ment 1900. 1900. Do 1900. Do you remember when you got married . Do you remember your wedding day . Force 7 force . So. She was brought by force. She was married by force because she was too young. At that time she didnt want to get married to an old person, because she was the fifth wife. Great grandmother elizabeth was the fifth of six wives of the senior chief. He worked with the british during colonial rule and is well known in kenya for playing a part in the countrys independence. Was it difficult for you to be the fifth wife . Leonard is elizabeths sixth child and hes my great uncle. He lives next door to my Great Grandmother. He was a child during the 1950s, when his father was detained during the Maupay Uprising mau mau uprising, that was a revolt against european land. Archive they were being checked and all members of the same tribe who have suffered most under the mau mau. A State Of Emergency was declared, but though it led to the end of british rule, it led to the end of british rule, it was a tough time for my great grandparents. And for my uncle leonard. In 1952, my father was taken into detention. Kenya had been declared emergency and he was detained for the next seven years, he was in detention. We used to be children of a chief. We became beggars. We were being helped by those people who we would have called poor. During now the mau mau it was not only affected our family. It affected other families. It was not only affected our family. It affected otherfamilies. One it was not only affected our family. It affected other families. One of my auntie, who had i think there we re my auntie, who had i think there were nine children, my mother took them. Already she had taken two other children who belonged to our sister, who had died. My mothers sister. We were, my mother was raising about 20 children. Wow. Yeah. We had a lot of it was chaotic, you know . Like we are fighting for food. This shrine is the resting place of my great grandfather. He lies alongside his five wives and theres alongside his five wives and theres a space reserved for my Great Grandmother elizabeth. As theirs was a polygamist marriage, visiting the shrine puts into perspective how large the chiefs family really was. My my great grandfather is resting here. But his legacy is living on in hundreds of descendants. What do you think about polygamy today . Would you advise me to go down that route . You wouldnt like me to . No . You were the last one to practice polygamy. You were the last one to practice polygamy, does that mean that our family will now be smaller and smaller and how do you feel about that . So you wouldnt want me to just have one or two kids, you want me to have five, six. Regardless of how many children i may have in the future, theres no doubt that the family is growing. My Great Grandmother gave birth to seven children. And there are tens of grand childrens. Grandchildren. My father was one of them. Im his second child of three, making me one of many, many great grandchildren to elizabeth. Whos in this picture . Is that you that picture there, i think its you and theres kids around you ican i can see that photographs play a big parts in my Great Grandmothers life. To celebrate her birthday, shes throwing a party. Were going to attempt something very special. A family photograph, a living family tree. With five generations of my family and my Great Grandmother at the centre. But with so many people involved, it could take a while. The first of january is a the first ofjanuary is a big the first of january is a big day for my Great Grandmother elizabeth koinange. Shes invited family and friends to celebrate her 117th birthday. Weve travelled from far and wide and for me, its a chance to reunite with my kenyan family. So the family, your children, your childrens children, were all spread out across the world. Like me, im in london. Do you like that were all over the world now . Have you always celebrated on january 1, since you can remember . Right now everyones preparing the food. Theres going to be loads of meat, vegetables. So now i think its time for me to get changed, as all the guests are slowly arriving. Im going to wear something thats a bit more comfortable. By by throwing this party, my Great Grandmother is continuing the tradition started by her late husband, of Gathering Friends And Family together on the first day of the year. So right now, the partys in full swing. Most people have eaten. Theres still some people getting served over here. We still have some late arrivals coming in, as you can expect. We have my great uncle right now giving a speech and saying once everyones eaten, all the family get together and take a Group Picture of ourfamily tree. Together and take a Group Picture of our family tree. Ment together and take a Group Picture of ourfamily tree. Ment together and take a Group Picture of our family tree. Ment family tree. Next time for the guest of honour to take the microphone. Time for cake and one of elizabeths granddaughters does the honours. Happy birthday. To you. Happy birthday. Applause great grandma puts her longevity down to a diet of boiled yam and milky tea. But for today shes happy to indulge. Everyone has been given some cake. The first people to be given some cake was everyone named after my great granddad. So what my auntie said is all the koinanges come and get some cake. Shes really happy. Come and get some cake. Shes really happy i come and get some cake. Shes really happy. I think shes had a lot of cake. Hopefully when im holder than 100 years old, i will be fed cake by all the people who come after me. Yeah, its a beautiful thing. All the people who come after me. Yeah, its a beautifulthing. Im quite jealous, yeah, its a beautifulthing. Im quitejealous, to be honest. Were just going to wait. This cake is good. Were going to wait for my Great Grandmother to go to where were taking a family picture. Once weve sat down we will start moving towards that area. Organising so many people is a tough task. Everybodys keen to catch up. While Great Grandmother patiently waits, its a chance to meet relatives i didnt know i had. Do you know how were related . I belong to the grandmother older than her. This is my cousin. Cousin . His son is your dad . Yeah. Hi. Hi. Thankyou my cousin. Cousin . His son is your dad . Yeah. Hi. Hi. Thank you very much. Im your aunt. Yeah. People are so much. Im your aunt. Yeah. People are so excited to see each other that theyre socialising and theyre slowly, slowly, slowly moving towards this way. Hopefully we get the picture by the end of the day. . First tojoin our living family true, Great Grandmother elizabeth, surrounded by her six surviving children, who have a combined age of more than 400. Next tojoin, my a combined age of more than 400. Next to join, my aunts and uncles. Now the Third Generation has been called. So that means the people who called. So that means the people who call my Great Grandmother Great Grandmother, so im part of them and im going tojoin them. Grandmother, so im part of them and im going to join them. My mother has been holding this party for about 20 years. She enjoys it. She would like to do it every quarter of a year. Shes happy to see her family coming together. She has become like the pillar for the family unit. Applause many of us Enjoy Tracing our family tree. But for most families, gathering so many generations together like this isnt possible. Its no surprise that people have travelled from far and wide because Great Grandmother elizabeths enthusiasm for life is infectious. Great grandmother elizabeths enthusiasm for life is infectiouslj finally enthusiasm for life is infectious. finally got my selfie. Hers is a life well lived. A life focussed on providing her descendants with advantages that she didnt get to enjoy. Faith, love and food are the fundamentals of my Great Grandmothers life. Although she rarely leaves her small house, The World Co M Es rarely leaves her small house, the world comes to her through her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, like me. One of the things which i like about her, and i think this is god given, is her memory. Because she doesnt get old. If you come here and you talk say hello to her and you talk to her, next time you come, she remember you very well. She cant forget. Bye. Bye bye. Bye. Byebye. Improvements in medicine mean we can all expect a longer life. But its how you live it that really matters. And for this, my Great Grandmother elizabeth is my inspiration. For most parts of the country theres a fair amount of cloud this afternoon, producing some outbreaks of rain, look at the blue skies above the Spring Flowers in kent. There are some spells of sunshine still to be enjoyed, particularly across southern and south Eastern Parts of england. Further north theres some brighter skies across theres some brighter skies across the North East Of England and parts of Eastern Scotland too. We have got a lot of cloud producing rain across Northern Ireland, Northern England and wales too. To the south of that, it should remain predominantly dry for the likes of cornwall and devon. Spots of rain around the north coast there. Heading towards the south east, 15 or 16 degrees in the brighter spells. Relatively decent weather. Damp and grey as we head across the north of wales, the isle of man and much of Northern England too. Sunshine and scattered showers returning to Northern Ireland and across much of scotland. Quite blustery here. Its feeling wintry across the mountains of scotland, where we could see some of these showers falling as sleet and snow. Moving through this evening and overnight, these Bands Shift Southwards across the country. A few splashes of Rain Across Southern England where we could do with some wet weather. Those showers get out of the way quickly. Clear skies for many areas. A chilly start to saturday morning. Northern england, Northern Ireland and scotland, we could see a sharp frost as well as wintry showers continuing and blustery conditions across the scottish mountains tomorrow. Further south across the country, the winds not as strong. Quite a lot of decent, dry weather actually with spells of sunshine, a few scattered showers across parts of north wales, north west england, scierd too. Further south and east you dodge those showers. Temperatures between 9to 14 those showers. Temperatures between 9 to 14 degrees. Weve got High Pressure keeping things mostly dry out towards the south west. Moving into the north of that area of High Pressure we have this front for easter day on sunday. That will introduce cloud and rain through the central slice of the country. Uncertainty about the exact position, the Northern Ireland, wales and Northern England will see rain. Either side of that front not too bad. Youre probably going to avoid the wet weather. In london 15 degrees. By easter monday, the cool theme continues with that northerly airflow, particularly chilly across Eastern Scotland, seven degrees or so. Eastern scotland, seven degrees or so. Further south, its Eastern Scotland, seven degrees or so. Furthersouth, its looking mostly dry with spells of sunshine. We could see temperatures up to 15 degrees, chance a few more showers particularly in the east. This is bbc news. Im shaun ley. The headlines at three. The most powerful Non Nuclear Bomb ever used by the United States targets so called Islamic State in afghanistan 36 militants are thought to have been killed. A british tourist, thought to be aged in her 20s, has been stabbed to death on a tram injerusalem. Schools in england are facing their worst funding cuts in 20 years a warning from teaching unions. The mission to re take mosulfrom so called is, we report from the frontline. Also in the next hour bank Holiday Travel chaos on the m4 after a tanker catches fire. This force is part of the motorway to close, traffic stretches back for many miles. Securitys to be improved at the Online Booking site air bnb after a bbc investigation finds scammers burgling homes