Celebrating Life at 117

Good morning on BBC News now, a

special progress.

Celebrating Life at 117.

Welcome to my

Welcome to my great-grandmother 's

170th birthday,

Welcome to my great-grandmother 's

170th birthday, right now

Welcome to my great-grandmother 's

170th birthday, right now she is

taking because people who have come

to see her and celebrate this big

day with her. There is more than 90

years difference between me and her.

She is 117 and I am just 23. I am

Priscilla Ng'ethe. I am returning to

my ancestral home in Kenya to

celebrate remarkable birthday of one

of the oldest people in the world.

My great-grandmother, Elisabeth. I

am here to discover the secrets of

her long life. As she throws a party

and reunites five generations of my

family.

This is where I was born. It's about

ten miles from Nairobi, the capital

of can you. Is fertile land has been

home to my family for at least six

generations. -- this. Today, there

are hundreds like me spread around

the world. I am returning from a

home in London to visit a woman very

close to my heart. Who has never

left Kenya, but has cultivated a

global family. We are just heading

up the road, it is quite bumpy as it

is a makeshift rope. This is a

shrine where most of my family are

buried, my great grandad, my

Grandad, this children and his five

wives. I great-grandmother is the

fifth wife. We are heading up to my

great-grandmother 's home, she lives

right by the side of where my great

grandad used to live and I am really

excited to see her. He/she is. --

here she is.

Hi! Hello!

Hello!

How are you?

How

are you?

It is good to see you. To

see you. -- good to see you.

She is

fine.

Long-time.

Long time, many

years.

This is my great-grandmother,

Elisabeth. She is going to be 117.

This is my great aunt Irene and she

is here to help with the

translations because I can

understand everything my

great-grandmother tells me but to

speak here is really difficult to.

Great grandma Elizabeth has lived on

this land for 90 years. She grew up

tending cattle on her father 's

farm, then moved here as a young

bride and raised seven children. She

built this house with profits from

the farm. My great-grandmother is

proud of her government identity

card. It doesn't show the exact

month or day that she was born, but

does have her year of birth as 1900.

The tribal tradition of age groups

is the same name to all children

born in the Seniors Party my

great-grandmother belongs to this

age group, meaning we know she was

born sometime between 1899 and 1900.

Do you remember when you got

married?

And how do you remember your wedding

day?

Is it force?

Force. She was brought

by force, she was married by force

because she was too young and at

that time she didn't want to get

married to an old person because she

was the fifth wife.

Great-grandmother Elisabeth was the

fifth of six wives of the senior

chief. He worked with the British

during colonial rule and is

well-known in can you for playing a

part in the country 's independence.

-- in can you. -- can you.

-- Kenya.

Is it difficult for you to be the

fifth wife?

Leonard is Elisabeth's sixth child

and he is my great uncle. He lives

next door to my great-grandmother

and was a child during the 1950s,

when his father, the senior chief,

was detained during the Mau Mau

uprising. The Mau Mau uprising was a

revolt against European ownership of

land.

Suspects were checked prior to

interrogation.

A state of emergency

was declared in Kenya and although

it eventually led to the end of

British rule, it was a tough time

for my great grandparents and for my

uncle Leonard.

In 1952, my father

was taken into detention. Kenya had

been declared emergency and he was

detained for the next seven years he

was in detention. We used to be

children of a cheat, we became

beggars. We were being helped by

those people we would have called

for. During now the Mau Mau, it was

not only affecting our family, it

affected other families. One of my

auntie 's, who had, I think there

were nine children, my mother took

them and already she had taken two

other children who had belonged to

our sister who had died. So, my

mother was raising about 20

children. So we had a lot of, it was

not, you know? Like we are fighting

to food. -- fall food.

-- for food.

This shrine is resting place of my

great-grandfather. He lies alongside

his five wives and there is a space

reserved for my great-grandmother

Elisabeth. As theirs was a

polygamous marriage, visiting this

shrine puts into perspective how

large the Chiefs family really was.

My great-grandfather is resting

here. But his legacy is living on in

hundreds of descendants. What do you

think about polygyny today? Would

you advise me to go down that route?

-- polgygamy.

You wouldn't like me to?

You were the last one to practise

polygyny, does that mean that our

family will now be smaller and

smaller and how do you feel about

that?

-- polygamy.

So you wouldn't want me to just have

one or two kids, you would want me

to have five, six regardless of how

many children I may have in the

future, there is no doubt that the

family is growing. My

great-grandmother gave birth to

seven children and there are tens of

grandchildren. My father was one of

them and I am his second child of

three and making me one of many,

many great grandchildren to

Elisabeth.

Who is in those pictures, that one

day? -- that one there?

That picture there, the one, I think

it is you and those kids around you.

I can see that photographs play a

big part of my great-grandmother's

life.

To celebrate her birthday, she

is throwing a party. And we are

going to attempt something very

special. A family photograph, a

living family tree, with five

generations of my family and my

great-grandmother at the centre. But

with so many people involved, it

could take a while. The first of

January is a big day for my

great-grandmother, Elizabeth

Clementi. She has invited family and

friends to celebrate her 117

birthday. -- Koinange. They have

travelled far and wide and it is a

chance on me to reunite with my

Kenyan family.

So your family, your

children, children's children, they

are all spread out across the world

like me in London.

Do you like but

we are all over the world? So he

view always celebrated on the first

of January, since you can remember?

-- so have you always celebrated?

Right now, everyone is preparing the

food. There is going to be loads of

meat, loads of vegetables. So now

it's time to get changes all the

guests are slowly arriving Sly will

wear something that is a bit more

comfortable. -- so I will.

By throwing this party, my

great-grandmother is continuing the

traditions started by her late

husband, of gathering friends and

family together on the first day of

the year. So right now, the party is

in full swing. Most people are

beaten. There are still some people

getting served over here. We still

have some late arrivals coming in,

as you'd expect. We have my great

uncle right now giving a speech and

sagging, once everyone has eaten,

the whole family, everyone gets

together and takes a group picture

of the family tree. Next, it's time

for the guest of honour to the

microphone.

Time for cake, and one of

Elizabeth's granddaughters does the

honours. Happy birthday. Happy

birthday!

Great-grandmother puts longevity

down to a diet of yams and milky tea

but for today, she is happy to

indulge. She's been given some cake

in the first people to be given some

cake was everyone named after my

great grandad. So what might party

said was, all the Koinanges, come

and get your grandmother, York

great-grandmother, your

great-great-grandmother some cake

and I think she is happy, she has

had a lot of cake. Hopefully when

I'm old and 100 years old, I will be

fed cake by all -- by all. All the

people who come after me. It's a

beautiful thing and I'm quite

jealous, to be honest. So we are

just going to wait... I'm going to

choke. This cake is good. So we are

just going to wait for my

great-grandmother to where they are

all taking a family picture. -- to

go. Once we are all sat down, we

will start will move into that area.

Organising so many people is a tough

task. Everybody is keen to catch up.

And while great-grandmother

patiently waits, it is a chance to

meet relatives I didn't know I had.

Do you know how we are related?

I

belong to the grandmother.

He is my

cousin. So his son is your dad?

Hello.

High, high, high. Thank you

very much. I am your aunt. I am your

aunt.

People are so excited to see

each other that they are socialising

and they are slowly, slowly, slowly

moving towards this way. So

hopefully we get the picture by the

end of the day. First to join our

living family tree,

great-grandmother Elizabeth.

Surrounded by her six surviving

children, who have a combined age of

more than 400. Next to join, my

aunts and uncles. So now that

another generation has been called,

it is people descended from my

great-grandmother, so I know join.

My mother has been holding this

party for about 20 years. She enjoys

it. She would like to do it every

quarter of the year. She is happy to

see her family coming together. She

has created a great family unit.

Many of us enjoyed tracing our

family tree but the most families,

gathering so many generations like

this together is impossible. It's no

surprise that people have travelled

from far and wide because

great-grandmother Elizabeth's

enthusiasm for life is infectious. I

finally got myself E. -- selfie.

Hers is a life well lived, a light

focused on providing her descendants

advantages that she didn't get to

enjoy. Faith, love and food are the

fundamentals of my

great-grandmother's life. And

although she rarely leaves a small

house, the world comes to her to her

children, grandchildren and

great-grandchildren like me.

One of

the things which I like about her

and I think this is God-given is her

memory because she doesn't get old.

If you come here, you say hello to

her and talk to her, next time you

come, she will remember you very

well. She can't forget.

Bye!

Improvements in medicine mean we can

all expect a longer life but it's

how you live it that really matters.

Amphibious, my great-grandmother

Elizabeth is my inspiration.

-- and for this.