They say it’s impolite to ask a woman about her age. But in case of Yevhenia Tebenchuk one can and should do so, as she is considered to be the oldest person in Ukraine. On March 30 experts of the National Records Register registered her age — 109 years and 74 days — as a longevity record. Her biggest concern is whether it is not too much of a hassle for her family.
She was born in 1902 in the Vinnytsia region, in the village of Chorniavka, Lypovets raion. She currently lives in Kyiv with her family, which is made up of her daughter, two grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. According to Tebenchuk, the Holodomor of 1932-33 deprived her of four young children. Only her daughter, Valentyna Zabolotna, survived (she’s now 75). In 1935, when the family moved to Siberia, Altai region, one more daughter was born. Sadly, she also died. Tebenchuk’s married life was not long either: after the war her husband died, and the power of that first love kept her from any further engagements.
At present the family members protect their grandmother and great-grandmother from extra work and excessive emotions. They want the keeper of their family hearth to live many more years, though Tebenchuk herself says she’ll live as long as God’s will allows. Regarding her longevity secret, in her opinion, it’s very simple: “One should always work. I survived so many famines, and I had children, so I always tried to think about what I should do to feed them,” says the long-lived woman. “When my daughter or grandchildren tell me ‘let us help you do something as it’s hard for you,’ I never agree. What will I do if I don’t work? I’ll die without it.”
