Hava Rexha, the oldest woman in Albania at 121 years old, hugs Xhersi, one of her great grandchildren at her home in Shushice, on July 8, 2002.

Next month on August 14th, surrounded by 120 offspring of four generations, she will be 122 years old. Born in 1880, the oldest woman in Albania has lived all her life in Shushice, a picturesque village 60 km south of Tirana. She has not had an easy life, nor has she been too particular about her diet.

She smokes, drinks coffee and likes a lot butter, but says she has never needed a doctor or complained of a headache.

Her one resentment, still fresh in her mind, was being forced to wed at 14 to a man who claimed to be 30 but was "about 60 and married twice before as well." That was in 1894, 20 years before the outbreak of the First World War.

Albania was still occupied by the Turks at the time. Now, 108 years later, the arranged marriage still rankles.

"Do you remember your wedding?" asks her 20-year-old great granddaughter Rita.

"I didn't want a wedding. I didn't love my husband. He was an old man," replies Hava.

She is unable to say who rules Albania these days and has a hard job remembering the names of all her grandchildren. But the unchosen husband still smarts.

Yet they lived together to see Albania proclaim its independence in 1912, and they became subjects of King Zog. They both survived two World Wars. Her husband died in 1950.

Hava spent her life in tough farming jobs and house chores, pasturing livestock, raising kids and never taking a break. A devout Muslim who never touched alcohol, she gave massages to help barren women conceive and washed the dead before burial. She had six children, of whom four died in early childhood. Only Vule, 80, her youngest daughter still lives. She was born when Hava was 42.

Six months ago, in the twilight of her life, the old woman lost her sight and is no longer able to move without help. But she still likes to talk to her great-great grandchildren who come to cuddle "big nanny" and kiss her seamed cheeks.

(Agencies)