Dhanabagiam “Dhanum’’ Govender of Shallcross marked her 100th birthday last Friday. The mother, grandmother and great-grandmother celebrated with her family at her home.
Govender was born in the old corrugated tin-and-iron barracks on the Melville Sugar Estates, near Stanger on the old North Coast of KZN, in 1923. She was the eldest of 10 children.
Ganesh Kitoony Nair, 87, is her brother. He facilitated an interview with Govender as she only speaks Tamil.
“She had no schooling of any kind but had inculcated great moral values and discipline in