Many say that centenarians often have many friends and strong ties with relatives. Sadly, this adage doesn’t apply to Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Ahmad Saeed or Abu Zaki, a man who is now in the exclusive three-figure-club at the age of 110. Abu Zaki has been living alone at his farm in Al-Ahsa for 25 years, with his children and wives visiting him from time to time.

He drove his own car for 62 years without registering a single traffic violation but stopped driving recently because of visual impairment. Despite the old age, Abu Zaki is still very independent, and cooks his food himself using plants and vegetables he grows at the farm, pointing out that his health is good because he regularly eats deer meat and lots of greens.

Though his basic job is farming, the centennial also undertook several other job positions in the past, including horse keeper, mechanic, employee at Aramco, drummer at border guards, as well as a worker at the restoration of Ibrahim Palace in Hofuf.

Remembering past hardships, Abu Zaki recounted how he worked as a driver and was separated from his family nearly 29 years, and how he used to go from Al-Ahsa to Qatif on a camel.

Speaking about marriage costs in the past, Abu Zaki said that he presented to one of his wives a dowry of SR80 and a fat goat. He said although marriage ceremonies used to last for three nights in the past, they didn’t cost as much as the one night-weddings people celebrate these days.

“If a poor man wanted to marry and he had neither money nor a house, people usually helped him collecting the needed money.” Abu Zaki said.

The ancient farmer has lost 15 children and has performed the Haj and Umrah several times, initially riding a camel to Makkah and later driving old cars. He claims he never traveled outside the Kingdom and has never had any health problems.

Recent international research carried out about centenarians suggests that the healthy ones have high levels of both vitamin A and vitamin E, proving that these two vitamins seem to be important in guaranteeing their extreme longevity.