The 115th year has passed for one of the oldest residents of Belarus, Yekaterina Gavrilchik, from the agro-town of Babinichi, Vitebsk region.
Ekaterina Stefanovna Gavrilchik has entered her 115th year. The centenarian lives in the agro-town of Babinichi, Orshansky District, under the care of her niece, Sofia Vybornaya.
Ekaterina Stefanovna was born on October 1, 1900, in the village of Kulgai, Gluboksky District, and later moved to Zapolye. For the last thirty years, as long as she was able to manage her household affairs, she lived alone on a farmstead. Ekaterina Stefanovna learned many things in her long life: sewing, knitting, and making felt boots. She did this at night, and during the day, she worked on a state farm, while also tending to her own land and livestock. War also passed through her life, leaving difficult memories of a camp near Baranovichi. She considers it a miraculous salvation that she, along with five other female prisoners, managed to escape from the camp and reach the village of Zapolye, where she found her hut reduced to ashes. Legends circulated about how Ekaterina Stefanovna handled an axe and saw. She felled trees that even strong men could not manage. What gave her strength is hard to say. The centenarian ate like all villagers: mushrooms, berries, stewed vegetables, and borscht – well-known dishes. Ekaterina Gavrilchik lived her life alone. She admits that 22 suitors proposed to her, but she chose to live alone. Or perhaps she couldn't forget Fyodor, the nobleman she liked very much, but who, as fate would have it, overworked himself and died prematurely.
— My aunt has a difficult character, — noted Sofia Anisimovna. — But she always sewed for us and made felt boots when she had the strength. And we are grateful to her for everything.
We wish her good health too.