By Botho Molosankwe
Katerina Heyman is tired.
Celebrating her 112th birthday today (Friday), she has a right to be.
But even though arthritis is ravaging her fingers and she uses a walker to get around, Heyman is a picture of health.
Her teeth may be stained by more than 90 years of using snuff, but they are all hers. She does not need glasses, nor does she use a hearing aid.
And although her movements are slow, she is still energetic and tidy. She baths herself, packs her cupboard and prefers to make her own bed.
The Star visited her at a Suid Afrikaanse Vrouefederasie frailcare in Kensington, Joburg. While she had her share of unhappiness, the memories of the good times are still vivid.
There was no TV and radio when she was growing up so one of her brothers played boeremusiek on guitar and concertina to entertain them.
"We used to dance to the music, but I don't like dancing anymore. My knees are tired and I am ill," she said.
Heyman was three when the Anglo Boer War began. But by the time it ended, she was 6, and can remember her family's battle to survive.
One night, her parents heard shots and the sound of horses' hooves. The children were all bundled together and everybody started running for safety to the mountain caves.
There are other painful times too. Those of a woman whose drunken husband's fists left her face bruised. Of a child who died young.
For Heyman, religion and surviving a lot of pain and suffering are the key to longevity.
"But now I want to go to heaven, I am tired."