"Exercise must be done daily," the 103-year-old Ethiopian native says. Yetashawork walks a half-mile at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center in Downtown Denver almost every day. He's done so for the past 12 years. While it takes him two hours to walk that half-mile, it's hard to argue with the results. And his family and nursing home assistants ensure he makes it there.
Regulars at the mall have taken notice. "He walks the mall almost every day, and he just keeps going," mall employee Bill Bradshaw said.
"We all have aches and pains, and we're all 40 to 50. We won't say our age, but here he is just moving forward."
Another mall employee, Arkady Jencks, noted that "every day when I was a kid my mom worked at the mall, and I would see him walking around, same pace."
"When I sit down, you see me," he said. "My feet always, always [are moving]. That's the most important part of your body."
Modifying his eating habits has also helped, he says. "I eat once a day. Once a day only. Then I have my stomach rest, you know?"
And there's prayer to wrap up his daily regimen: Yetashawork says 90 percent of his energy is delivered from a higher power.
The retired pharmacist, who came to America as a refugee and also speaks 10 languages, summed it up as succinctly as possible. "Until you die, you have to move!"
