Tava Colo

Tava Colo

Tava Colo in October 2017.

Unvalidated

Tava Colo (born 22 December 1902) is a supercentenarian from Mayotte whose claimed age is currently unvalidated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG). She is currently  the oldest living person in the world since the death of Chiyo Miyako on 22 July 2018.

Colo lives on the island of Mayotte, an overseas department of France.

Biography

According to her identity card, she was born in Mamoudzou, Mayotte, France, on 22 December 1902. She had two daughters with her first husband (both deceased as of October 2017). She also has 9 grandchildren (oldest one was born in 1949 and the youngest in 1971), 40 great-grandchildren and 53 great-great-grandchildren who comes to visit her regularly. Her granddaughters, who affectionately nicknamed her “Coco” (“grandmother” in the local language), says that she had several husbands but that she divorced them if they disagreed with her children. She has been bedridden since 2010.

In September 2017, she was visited by Agnes Buzyn, Minister of and Health. When she was asked to reveal her secret of longevity, she replied simply “that it must be respectful of all, small and great, and always take care of yourself, be very clean”.

Tava Colo currently resides with one of her granddaughters in Passamainty, her native village, located in the commune of Mamoudzou at claimed age of 121 years, 118 days.

References

• La doyenne des Français est une Mahoraise Imaz Press Reunion, 11 October 2017
• IS 115 YEARS OLD, THE MAHORAISE TAVA COLO IS THE NEW DEAN OF LEGAL FRENCH? The Sherbrook Times, 14 October 2017

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