BROCKTON – This Brockton grandmother has experienced the world and all of its changes, and now, at 100 years old, is ready to sit back and relax.
But Isabel “Beba” Rosa isn’t your average 100-year-old woman. She’s spunky and classy and gives young women what she says is the best advice in the world: “stay away from men, men are no good, and don’t go looking for love.”
Rosa joined the centenarian club earlier this month. She has lived a long and happy life, but is happy she can finally rest. She spent her whole life working to help care for her family in Cape Verde.
“I started working at 10 years old and didn’t stop,” Rosa said.
Living in Cape Verde
Rosa remembers waking up at 1 o’clock in the morning to walk to her job, which was hours away by foot in Cape Verde.
“When we started walking, it was 1 a.m., and it was dark. By the time we reached the destination, it was 5 a.m., and the sun was shining,” Rosa said. “Life was hard back then. I carried cement and wood for construction workers on my head, carried water in barrels, and each barrel was worth $2.50.”
At that time, she didn’t wear shoes, so the pads of her feet would swell from walking on the hot concrete for long distances.
Living in Cape Verde had many obstacles, including the poverty Rosa was surrounded by. Many, like Rosa, searched for a new life somewhere else, and that is why she came to the USA.
The great famine of 1940 in Cape Verde
Rosa lived through a famine in 1940, where she saw people literally die of starvation waiting in line for food.
“The lines were so long we would sleep there, and many people died in their sleep waiting for food. It was a tough time,” Rosa said.
Not only was there a famine but there was also a drought. Crops couldn’t grow, which is another reason people starved.
“It wasn’t until 1946 when fava beans could grow, and that was our meal. There wasn’t rain for three years, there was so much hunger, and I fought so much in my lifetime,” Rosa said.
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Rosa survived those struggles and made it out stronger. And, according to her nurse Jesuina Nunes, at 100 years old, her health is in tact.
“She’s very healthy for her age; she takes high blood pressure medicine and has a bad knee, but besides that, she’s perfectly healthy,” Nunes, a nurse of 30 years, said.
“Beba is very sharp. She comes to Brockton Adult Day Health five days a week, and she’s resilient, eats healthy, and is hardly hospitalized. She’s doing really well; she’s one of my healthiest patients, especially for her age. Beba is so conscious of how she treats her body. If it isn’t healthy, she won’t eat it,” Nunes said.
Brockton Adult Day Health Center is a cost-effective alternative to nursing homes or assisted living.
It provides seniors with social interactions, medication management, healthy meals, behavioral health services, exercise, and other supports.
The key to living a long life
At this point in Rosa’s life, she has no regrets. She’s done most of the things she wanted to do, including coming to America.
For her, the secret to a long life is eating healthy, drinking coffee and milk, and eating fruits, vegetables, and peanut butter, she said.
A final piece of advice that Rosa offers is just to be free and live your life.
