Somali centenarian weds 17-year-old
MOGADISHU (AFP) - – A man claiming to be 112 married a
17-year-old at a ceremony in central Somalia, his sixth wedding in
total but his first in three quarters of a century, he said
Thursday.
"My wife is ten times younger than me but we love each other so
much and I believe that I can give her the kind of love that not
any young man can offer," Ahmed Mohamed Dhore told AFP.
"Married life is about love and passion rather than age and
beauty," said the centenarian, whose wedding ceremony in the town
of Guriel was attended by hundreds on Wednesday.
"The first time I got married was so long ago I cannot remember
and the last time must have been about 75 years ago, I was still a
young man," he said.
Dhore would have already been an adult when the nationalist
leader "Mad Mullah," Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, who fought the
British empire and created the Dervish state died in 1920.
He said the secret to a longevity spanning three different
centuries was "healthy food when he was young".
"I'm 112 and can live the life of a youngster... The idea to get
married again came from my children and grand-children," he said,
explaining that his only other surviving wife was 90 and
ailing.
According to statistics by international aid and development
agencies, the average life expectancy of a Somali male is 47.
