The family and friends of Mrs Neela Moonsamy recently gathered to celebrate and honour her life as she turned 80-years-old recently.
The milestone celebration was held in grand style at her family home in Mount Edgecombe. It was a bittersweet day as the day as the octogenarian also marked 20 years since the passing of her husband, Kisten Moonsamy Govender, whom she dearly loved.
Every year since then, the family gets together and performs an annual prayer followed by service in the morning and a birthday party for their beloved mum in the evening. Moonsamy was born in Cavendish, Malvern, and was displaced during the Group Areas Act to Mount Edgecombe, where she has been residing ever since.
Moonsamy has five sons, five daughters and 12 grandchildren. She raised all her children on the sole salary of her late husband with great difficulty. Born into indentured labour, Moonsamy and her husband had very limited exposure to education as they had to work in the cane fields as young adults.
They ensured that all their children were educated and today, most of them are in successful professions. Moonsamy is very religious and every member of her family follows the Hindu religion.
She has taught her family to always put God first in everything they do. She enjoys pasta and has gone back to being a vegetarian. She listens to devotional music and enjoys reminiscing about the good old days and sharing her memories of her younger years with loved ones. She still enjoys cooking her famous pot of wood-fire vegetable breyani and sending a dish for all her children.
