World's 'unofficial' oldest man dies in South Africa
Ahuruma could be Uganda's oldest person
Added 28th July 2017 05:52 PM
"The missionaries estimated my age. When I went for baptism teaching, they looked at me and decided that I was 10 years. That was in 1895."
President Yoweri Museveni met and built a house for 131-year-old John Ahuruma, who could be Uganda's oldest living person. The President met Ahuruma at State House, Entebbe in October last year.
Fr. Fabius Bainakanaama of St. Padre Pio Nyahuka Catholic Parish in Bundibugyo district, who accompanied Ahuruma to State House, said the President wanted the old man to live comfortably for the rest of his life.
About Ahuruma
Ahuruma's baptism card indicates that he was born in 1885. That makes him 131 years old. "The missionaries estimated my age. When I went for baptism teaching, they looked at me and decided that I was about 10 years. That was in 1895. So, they recorded my year of birth as 1885," he said. Walking with the aid of a stick, Ahuruma, who fluently speaks Rutooro, Luganda and Ramba (spoken by the Bamba), still has his vision intact, although he has an eye infection.
Meeting the President, he said, was the climax of a life-long dream. "I first saw him (Museveni) at a distance when he came to Bundibugyo during the Allied Democratic Forces insurgency. I longed to meet and greet him. I am excited that we have met. I do not want his leadership to end. He has done good things for this country; I am proud of him," Ahuruma said.
The President picked interest in Ahuruma after reading a story in Sunday Vision of September 18, which reported that Ahuruma could be the oldest living Ugandan. Museveni had hinted at one of his presidential rallies that his research had identified Thomas Kakiza, 117, of Ntungamo as the oldest man in Uganda.
However, when Fr. Bainakanaama read the story, he wrote to New Vision: "In Bundibugyo, there is John Ahuruma in Busunga parish, Babandi sub-county, who is above 125 years old. He tells stories of Kabaka Chwa's palace, which should be in the 1890s." During the meeting with Museveni, Ahuruma said: "I was born in Bunyangule in Bughendera constituency in the current Bundibugyo district over 130 years ago, when the Baganda still wore barkcloth."
Whereas he cannot exactly tell which year he was born, he remembers that when the first White missionary came to western Uganda, he was in his early teens. "We were in Bundibugyo when we got news that a White man had appeared in Fort Portal," he narrated.
Ahuruma could be Uganda's oldest person
Added 28th July 2017 05:52 PM
"The missionaries estimated my age. When I went for baptism teaching, they looked at me and decided that I was 10 years. That was in 1895."
President Yoweri Museveni met and built a house for 131-year-old John Ahuruma, who could be Uganda's oldest living person. The President met Ahuruma at State House, Entebbe in October last year.
Fr. Fabius Bainakanaama of St. Padre Pio Nyahuka Catholic Parish in Bundibugyo district, who accompanied Ahuruma to State House, said the President wanted the old man to live comfortably for the rest of his life.
About Ahuruma
Ahuruma's baptism card indicates that he was born in 1885. That makes him 131 years old. "The missionaries estimated my age. When I went for baptism teaching, they looked at me and decided that I was about 10 years. That was in 1895. So, they recorded my year of birth as 1885," he said. Walking with the aid of a stick, Ahuruma, who fluently speaks Rutooro, Luganda and Ramba (spoken by the Bamba), still has his vision intact, although he has an eye infection.
Meeting the President, he said, was the climax of a life-long dream. "I first saw him (Museveni) at a distance when he came to Bundibugyo during the Allied Democratic Forces insurgency. I longed to meet and greet him. I am excited that we have met. I do not want his leadership to end. He has done good things for this country; I am proud of him," Ahuruma said.
The President picked interest in Ahuruma after reading a story in Sunday Vision of September 18, which reported that Ahuruma could be the oldest living Ugandan. Museveni had hinted at one of his presidential rallies that his research had identified Thomas Kakiza, 117, of Ntungamo as the oldest man in Uganda.
However, when Fr. Bainakanaama read the story, he wrote to New Vision: "In Bundibugyo, there is John Ahuruma in Busunga parish, Babandi sub-county, who is above 125 years old. He tells stories of Kabaka Chwa's palace, which should be in the 1890s." During the meeting with Museveni, Ahuruma said: "I was born in Bunyangule in Bughendera constituency in the current Bundibugyo district over 130 years ago, when the Baganda still wore barkcloth."
Whereas he cannot exactly tell which year he was born, he remembers that when the first White missionary came to western Uganda, he was in his early teens. "We were in Bundibugyo when we got news that a White man had appeared in Fort Portal," he narrated.
''We trekked miles to go and see him. You should have seen us. We were scared. We thought we were going to die. We had never seen someone with that skin colour," Ahuruma noted in an interview with Sunday Vision.
He said shortly after he returned to Bundibugyo, one of his uncles killed someone, forcing him to flee to Buganda. Ahuruma accompanied his uncle on his journey to Buganda. During his stay in Buganda, Ahuruma became a royal entertainer to Kabaka Daudi Chwa, for whom he used to play the harp (endingidi).
After the birth of his first child, Ahuruma decided to return to Bundibugyo to show his parents their grandchild. Subsequently, he married six wives, two of them in church. He said two of his children are still alive, including his daughter, Hannifer Byabanyagi, a resident of Kansanga, who looks after him.
Secret to life
Ahuruma's alert mental faculties betray a sense of youth. When asked how he has been able to live this long, Ahuruma said he rarely falls sick and only uses herbs as medication. "My only problem is the backache and the eyes that have become partially blind because of my age," he said.
For minor illnesses such as abdominal problems, he said he uses local herbs. "When they introduced hospitals and modern medicine, we feared that we were going to die and most of us — the elderly, shunned them," he said. Ahuruma had 30 children, but 29 of them passed on, leaving only Byabanyagi, who takes care of him
At 131, could Ahuruma be the oldest person in the world?
Added 19th September 2016 01:32 PM
His eye sight is poor, but his memory is still sharp. He is free from diabetes and any cardiovascular diseases.
Ahuruma with his daughter
It is easy to locate Yohana Ahuruma. Fr Fabius K. Bainakanaama takes me to Busunga village near the Uganda-DR Congo order, where we find the frail-old man seated by his mud-and-wattle home, which sits on a three-acre-piece of land. His compound is dotted with different tree species and flowers. From the well-manicured lawns, you can tell the old man has an eye for detail.
His eye sight is poor, but his memory is still sharp. A serious backache prevents him from moving beyond his compound, otherwise, he is free from diabetes and any cardiovascular diseases.
How old IS HE?
Ahuruma does not know his exact date of birth and neither does Hannifer Byabanyagi, his only surviving daughter.
When the first missionaries came to Virika in 1895, 121 year ago, he was among the first people to be baptised.
His baptism card indicates that he was born in 1885. That makes him 131 years old. "The missionaries estimated my age. When I came for catechism lessons before baptism, they looked at me and decided that I was about 10 years. That was in 1895. So, they recorded my year of birth as 1885. But I could be older or younger," Ahuruma says.
Life in Buganda
Ahuruma did not go to school. But he had a special talent in playing the flute which attracted the Omukama of Toro, Kyebambe III. The king lent him to Buganda's Kabaka Daudi Chwa II, who took him to his palace in Buganda in 1905.
"My journey to Buganda took me about 20 days because we moved on foot," he says. "I had no shoes and wore only barkcloth," he says. "Shoes were uncommon and expensive. But even if you could get them, putting them on would be construed as looking down family or community members who did not have them!" Ahuruma was to spend 35 years in Buganda and even married his first wife from the Buganda royal family.
"Many people used to fear the Kabaka. Chwa was a no-nonsense man but, to me, he was a close friend. He loved me and treated me like one of his children," says Ahuruma.
JOINING THE British army
When Ahuruma was 35, he joined the King's African Rifles (KAR). KAR was a multi-battalion British colonial regiment raised from Britain's colonies from 1902 until independence in 1962. When the World War broke out in 1939, Ahuruma did not know he would be part of it. But in 1942, he was among the soldiers trained to assist in fighting the Germans. "We were taken
to Nairobi, Kenya, where we underwent different military drills in preparation for the war against (Adolf) Hitler (Nazi Germany's leader)," he said.
At 131, he is Uganda's oldest man the infantry because he was young and energetic. He was then sent to Mombasa for more training in basic military skills and how to handle guns.
He was thereafter shipped off to Sri Lanka and later Burma in Asia. The sea voyage took two weeks from Mombasa to Ceylon, Southeast Asia.
"The war was tough. We used to kill the Germans and their allies. I remember one day I killed 14 of them and I was a hero. All the commanders liked me. I was a very short and strongman,"Ahuruma reminisces.
The war ended in Britain's favour in 1945 and Ahuruma came back to Uganda. "The army gave us many skills, including driving and writing," he says.
Guinness book of records
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the oldest verified age to which any human has ever lived is 122 years and 164 days. Jeanne Louise Calment (France), who was born on February 21, 1875 and died on August 4, 1997, holds this record. In March this year, Guinness World Records, which verifies claimed records around the world, announced Israel Kristal of Haifa, Israel, as the world's oldest living man.
He was born on September 15, 1903 after the war, Ahuruma returned to new realities of the new era. His friend, Cwa, had died and his son, Mutesa, was the Kabaka.
"I had left my wife and children in the palace. Unfortunately, my wife died shortly after my return, leaving a three-month-old baby. I decided to return to Toro with my baby and the missionaries at Virika helped me raise her. I was sad that my wife was buried in Buganda," he says.
Ahuruma says when he arrived in Toro; he found that Omukama Rukidi III had allocated his land to another person. Using sh500 Kabaka Mutesa II gave him for his resettlement, he bought land. "This time, coming back to Toro took us only four days because we used a train," he explains.
He retired from service and took up farming.
Uganda's 134 year-old 'Ahuruma' dies: Media
Yohana Ahuruma believed to have been oldest citizen in Uganda
28.08.2019
ANKARA
A man believed to be Uganda’s oldest citizen has died at the age of 134, according to local media reports.
“Sad news Yohana Ahuruma, a man believed to be the oldest in Uganda has passed on at 134 years,” the New Vision Daily tweeted Wednesday.
"The missionaries estimated my age. When I went for baptism teaching, they looked at me and decided that I was 10 years. That was in 1895," the same Ugandan Daily re-published Ahuruma’s words as saying in 2017 when he was believed to be 131 year-old.
The daily noted that, the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, has built a house for Ahuruma, after he has met with him at State House, Entebbe in October 2016.
Describing Ahuruma’s health status at the time, the Ugandan Daily said that he “still has his vision intact, although he has an eye infection”.
Ahuruma was born in Bunyangule over 130 years ago when people in there still wore barkcloth, the New Vision said Wednesday in its re-published report.
He married six wives, two of which in church. He told the New Vision, in 2017, that two of his children are still alive, including Hannifer Byabanyagi, his daughter, who was looking after him.
A man believed to be Uganda’s oldest citizen has died at the age of 134, according to local media reports.
“Sad news Yohana Ahuruma, a man believed to be the oldest in Uganda has passed on at 134 years,” the New Vision Daily tweeted Wednesday.
"The missionaries estimated my age. When I went for baptism teaching, they looked at me and decided that I was 10 years. That was in 1895," the same Ugandan Daily re-published Ahuruma’s words as saying in 2017 when he was believed to be 131 year-old.
The daily noted that, the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, has built a house for Ahuruma, after he has met with him at State House, Entebbe in October 2016.
Describing Ahuruma’s health status at the time, the Ugandan Daily said that he “still has his vision intact, although he has an eye infection”.
Ahuruma was born in Bunyangule over 130 years ago when people in there still wore barkcloth, the New Vision said Wednesday in its re-published report.
He married six wives, two of which in church. He told the New Vision, in 2017, that two of his children are still alive, including Hannifer Byabanyagi, his daughter, who was looking after him.