AGE is nothing but a number for 93-year-old Isipingo pastor, Adeline Florence Pillai, who continues to preach the gospel and run a weekly soup kitchen feeding dozens in need, all the while meticulously tending to her beautiful garden.

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The elderly pastor said that she gets up bright and early and focuses on keeping her mind active. The first thing she does each morning is read her Bible, pray and do her devotions.

Adeline runs a soup kitchen at the church, feeding countless community members in need on a weekly basis. In addition, despite her age, she tends to the sizable garden there, her pride and joy, keeping it blossoming throughout the year.

She has a green thumb and keeps her mind active and engaged with gardening, citing it as one of the ways she stays so healthy in her advanced age.

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“People say to me, ‘You dress like a young lady.’ I reply asking, ‘Why should I dress like an old lady? I feel young, I must dress how I feel.’ That is how I carry myself,” joked Pillai.

 “I never want to just sit and do nothing. I like to be on the move. If I feel ill, I won’t lie down. I may go for a walk, but I am not one to go to the bed and sleep,” said Pillai.

She is a lifelong student and studies often. She enjoys word games like scrabble, many of which she has on her phone.

She loves teaching her family all of the games that she knows. She has 10 children and one adopted child in addition to 38 grandchildren, 46 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. Two of her children have died.

More about the remarkable woman

Adeline was born in Barberton in the Eastern Transvaal. She lived at her father’s farm. While she was still young, she worked at an ice-cream parlour. She met her late husband, George Pillai there in 1949 and quickly developed an unbreakable bond with him.

Under apartheid, due to the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, white South Africans could not legally marry non-white people. She made a choice to overcome apartheid law and reclassify as non-white to be with the man she loved.

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“He had a very hard life due to socio-economic conditions for non-white citizens during the time, but with God’s grace, he quit vices like smoking, drinking and gambling after becoming Christian. Everything changed when we moved to Isipingo, as George’s family took us in. The two of us began working at Ebenezer Assemblies of God, which was established in 1952 by missionaries,” said Pillai. She explained that with genuine love, anything can be overcome.

After her husband died due to Alzheimer’s, she and her son Ronald worked together tirelessly to build up the church at a new venue in Lotus Park. He levelled the land there and erected a quaint church. When he died from Covid-19, she took the reins and is now the pastor of the church.

“To lose my son was heartbreaking. No parent should have to go through burying their children. I was devastated. He built this church up. He worked hard and that brought a bit of consolation to me, knowing that he must have been so tired,” said Pillai.

When asked for sage advice, Pillai advised people to keep a pure heart.

“Keep forgiving. A lot can happen and be said without thought. You have got to overlook some things. Little issues can become big problems. Do not hold on to any bitterness or hatred. Forgive, forget and carry on,” said Pillai.

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