The Gift of Vakhegula
One Vakhegula—which means ‘grandmother’ in the Tsonga language—named Rebecca Ntsanwisi first pioneered this venture due to her own health issues. Ntsanwisi is an award-winning community builder born in Tzaneen, Limpopo, South Africa, known by locals as “Mother Teresa.” She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2003 and through her own battle with health, she pushed herself down a challenging road and created a platform that helped benefit the elderly woman in her village and in South Africa.
“I couldn’t even walk; things were not okay. My doctor advised me to exercise, and it was not easy, but I realized that if I stay sitting like this, I’ll be like this forever,” says Ntsanwisi. “I tried to exercise by walking, maybe less than 100 meters to start. And then I started doing an exercise that helps the hip and the legs, and it became better.” She was referring to the movement of players kicking a soccer ball.
Ntsanwisi began walking further distances and one day met with a few grannies in the village. The women eventually walked over to a soccer field, and the rest, as they say, was history. “When we were there, the boys were playing soccer, the ball came to us, they kicked the ball and they missed. And then one of them ran and kicked the ball. Then the boys started playing with us. The following day, I received a call from one granny who said, you know what? I slept well yesterday. Can we do it again?” Ntsanwisi realized that running helped exercise the hips, and kicking the ball helped strengthen the knees. But one element superseded it all. “On the soccer field, we laughed a lot and discuss things in our day-to-day lives; we talk about the olden days, how we grew up—and we laugh. And when you laugh, it relaxes the muscles,” she says.
In 2010, the Vakhegula Vakhegula FC were invited to play in Boston, Massachusetts. The USA was the first country to invite the football club to play with other senior citizens. For many of them, this was the first time these women ever had the luxury of flying on a plane or traveling to a new continent across the globe. In 2023, Vakhegula Vakhegula FC hosted the Granny’s International World Cup Football Tournament, and it was an emotional moment for Ntsanwisi as she watched nations walk through the airport to play this first-of-its-kind tournament."
