14 DAY TRIAL // Living a long and full life is one of people's most intimate desires, but for an old lady in Kazakhstan this wish has come true a long time ago. Officials in the country, who have identified the woman, say that she will soon celebrate her 130th birthday, which makes her 16 years older than the individual that has thus far been considered to be the oldest person alive. Sakhan Dosova is the mother of ten children, and shares that she has never visited a doctor or eaten a handful of sweets in her entire life.
Rather, she eats copious amounts of cottage cheese, and relies on her renowned sense of humor to get her past the daily challenges that a person her age faces. During a census in the country's northern region of Karaganda, authorities were amazed to learn that the woman was well in her 12th decade of life. Further proof came when researchers discovered that she had also been enlisted in another census in the area, order by Soviet leader Stalin in 1926, when she was noted as being 47 years old.
“I don't have any special secret. I've never taken pills and if I was ill, I used granny's remedies to cure me. I have never eaten sweets, I don't like them. But I love kurt (a salty dried cottage cheese) and talkan (ground wheat),” the woman tells. According to her papers, including a Soviet-era passport and a national identity card, she was born on March 27th, 1879, which means that, in two days' time, she will turn 130. Already, Dosova is the oldest person alive, having surpassed others, both living and dead, by more than 10 years.
“She is a very cheerful woman. We think laughter and her good mood helped her live so long,” her 42-year-old grand-daughter, Gaukhar Kanieva, explains. She is puzzled at why authorities are looking so hard in the woman's documents, attempting to find any irregularities. The truth is that the country is about to get worldwide recognition for having the oldest-ever living human being on its territory, and officials do not want to get embarrassed if the documents they present as proof later turn out to be fake.
“Sakhan Dosova was found during our census held in February and March. She has an old passport and documents which are genuine, and based on these we can judge her age as being correct,” Karaganga regional statistics bureau head of social and demographical department, Nailya Dosayeva, points out. “We can see that this is turning into a big story and for the sake of our country, we need to be sure her claim is correct,” another official replies.