World Oldest Woman at Yeji? (Mirror Front Page)

Sat. November 14, 2009

Madam Adjoa Adisima of Yeji in the Brong Ahafo Region could oust 115-year-old Gertrude Baines from her position as the world’s oldest living person.
Madam Adisima, a member of the Yeji Wesley Methodist Church, turned 139 last February.
Reacting to a story in the Saturday, October 10, 2009 issue of the Daily Graphic which talked about Ms Baines’s birthday celebration, the head of the church, the Very Rev Ebenezer Eshun, claimed that his church member’s name rather deserved mention in the Guinness Book of World Records and not Ms Baines’s.
With a family record book to back his claims, Rev Eshun said the book, which was made available by one of the five surviving children of the old woman, indicated that Madam Adisima was born at Yeji on February 26, 1870.
Speaking to The Mirror in Accra last Wednesday, Rev Eshun, who travelled to Accra to present the story on behalf of the family, said Madam Adisima had 12 children and about 100 grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Talking about the physical condition of the old woman, he said although she was in a wheelchair and had difficulty seeing and hearing, she could remember things which happened many years ago and could clearly speak about them.
Rev Eshun said the condition of her surviving children, who looked very old, as well as evidence from other equally old people in the town was enough to make any one believe the woman’s story.
In addition, he said, the woman was capable of narrating stories which could only be read from history books.
He said the evidence he gathered from the old woman and other sources in the town indicated that her father, the late Nana Kojo Amoah of Ekumfi Ango in the Central Region, had travelled to settle at Yeji in 1860.
The late Nana Amoah got married to one Maame Abena, a native of Yeji, and had two children, Segu Amoah and Adjoa Adisima. While Segu Amoah was sent back to the Central Region for his education, Adisima stayed at Yeji with her parents and helped with their farming and trading activities.
He said the late Segu, after schooling in the Central Region, went back to Yeji and in 1930 introduced Methodism there and established a school in the community.
The priest indicated that Madam Adisima is still a member of the church, together with other members of her family, which has many of the educated people in Yeji.
Rev Eshun said Madam Adisima is a source of reliable historical information to the people of Yeji and others who call on her.

Caption: The 139-year-old Madam Adjoa Adisima in a wheelchair. With her on the left is the Rt Rev Ben Abubakr, a former Bishop of the Kumasi Diocese of the Methodist Church. First from right is the Very Rev Ebenezer Eshun of the Yeji Methodist Church and (second from right) Mr Kwame Boafo, the Diocesan Lay Chairman of the Kumasi Methodist Church.