FEATURE
Photo: Andrew Hulsmeier
MEET A BAJAN
JAMES SISNETT SUPERCENTENARIAN
By Sarah Venable
James Sisnett when he was interviewed by Sarah Venable at 107 for the 2008 edition of the Ins and Outs of Barbados.
hen you’re asked to interview a 107-year-old, you never dream that five years later, you’ll be celebrating his longevity again! But this is the case with the remarkable James Emmanuel Sisnett. Born in Barbados on February 22, 1900, Mr. Sisnett is the oldest verified living man in the western hemisphere and the second-oldest in the world. It seems to run in the family. Two of his sisters lived to 100 and another two reached the ages of 98 and 99. His progeny consists of 11 children, 25 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. We’ll have to wait and see if they have longevity too. He did not have an easy life, especially in his youth. “Things was hard for the coloured man,” he said. “All o’ we houses ain’t had roofs but tree limbs. If you come to visit, I would had to borrow a shirt and some shoes. People wore clogs—a piece of wood tied on with rag. No electric light nor pipe water. Coffee and cocoa trees used to grow in the gullies. We would tek and grind it, or drink bush. Salt didn’t born yet; they had a thing like a rock from a place called Saba, and you scraped it or dip it in water. We ate yam and hare rabbits and birds you would catch with a basket.” He attended school for a mere five years, then learned the blacksmith trade, which kept him employed on plantations until 1970. He cultivated his own crops up until the age of 100. His pension is tiny.
Aside from a hearing problem and being unable to walk, the resident of the Ocean View Nursing Home is in good health and communicates well. Though he did have a cataract operation sometime this century, he has never been a hospital inpatient. On his birthday in 2011, the Nation newspaper remarked on his amazing memory, hearty appetite, and blood pressure—120/70, to be exact. How does he do it? For his health and longevity he gave credit to God, though when pressed he also mentioned hard work and a diet that featured lots of ground provisions. Well, maybe a shot of brandy now and then, too. More specifically, how has he avoided cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and the other main diseases that tend to affect people over 65? This is not idle speculation; scientists would like to know. That’s why Acron Cell, a California-based biotech company which aims to bring longevity therapies to market, visited Barbados in 2011. They came to take blood samples from Mr. Sisnett and some two dozen direct descendants. This will enable them and their colleague-advisors at Harvard University Medical School, Michigan State University Medical School, and the University of Liverpool, England, to study the Sisnetts’ whole genome sequence. We wish they’d also consider his peaceful temperament and his “wicked” sense of humour. Can we have some of that with our long lives, please?
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