Beka Ntsanwisi is working to empower older women in South Africa, where the average life expectancy is in the early to mid-60s. She started a soccer league with a mission to introduce women over 50 to the sport. Ntsanwisi shares her Brief But Spectacular take on empowering ‘soccer grannies.’
John Yang:
Finally tonight, we meet a woman in South Africa who’s working to empower older women in her country. There, the average life expectancy is in the mid — I’m sorry — early to mid 60s.
In tonight’s Brief But Spectacular, she talks about how her own cancer diagnosis inspired her to help change lives.
Beka Ntsanwisi, Community Leader:
The day I was told that I have cancer, I was in a shock. It was not OK.
But let me tell you something. One day, I decided to — because the doctor will always tell me to exercise, and I said, OK, I can walk. As I was walking, one granny was greeting me and said: “I have a problem.”
And I said: “No, come join me.”
And then, as we were walking, another one joined us. Remember, they are telling me their problems. And we ended up at the soccer field. I was very tired, under a shade. Boys were playing somewhere. The ball came to us.
So one granny decided to kick the ball. She missed. But she kept on running. The other one joined. She said: “I can. I’m better than you.” She missed. And the boys came there. They were laughing, and they tried to play with the grannies.
And the next day, I received a call from one granny. She said: “Mama Beka, yesterday, it was nice. I enjoy it. I came back, I slept like a baby. Can we do it again?”
I said: “Ah, it’s okay. Let’s go there.”
This is our time to enjoy. Any granny who is at home, they know that. They know what I’m telling them. Look at where we are today. We are famous, the grannies who plays football. We have more than 250 teams.
And almost every day, they are joining. The mission of the team is for us to live healthy and longer, because, by exercising, it helps us a lot. My motto is that, at our age, we just want to enjoy like when we are 16. We make time for ourselves. And it’s healthy. And we are enjoying that.
My name is Beka Ntsanwisi. This is my Brief But Spectacular take on empowering the soccer grannies.
