Volunteers make disabled gogo’s life easier
“We could not wait for the municipality to have a budget to help the elderly woman.”
![](https://images.caxton.co.za/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2018/06/IMG_0357_07016.jpg)
KwaThema – Volunteers joined hands to build gogo Elizabeth Mabena (81) a ramp for her wheelchair.
Gogo’s legs were amputated and found it difficult to leave her house because it didn’t have a ramp for her wheelchair.
Gogo says seven years ago one of her legs was amputated and early this year the doctors amputated the other one.
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“I had to learn to live without my legs and wheeling myself out of the house without a ramp.
“I used to scream or hit the wall for my neighbours to come to help me to go to the bathroom.
“I felt really bad and like a nuisance because I depended on others for help.
“But now that good Samaritans heard my pleas and my prayers have been answered, I will be able to wheel myself out of my house to enjoy the winter sun,” she says.
Gogo says her wheelchair broke while she was on her way to church last Sunday.
“Even though I now have a ramp, I am scared it will crumble down while I try to wheel myself out of the house.
“I am pleading with anyone who has a second-hand wheelchair to donate it to me,” she says.
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Mandla Madomela, a builder, says he was approached by Ward 74 councillor Thulani Simelane about building a ramp for gogo.
“I immediately saw it fit to donate and volunteer my services to making life a bit easier for the elderly woman,” he says.
Simelani says he received a request from a concerned resident about gogo’s challenges.
“We could not wait for the municipality to have a budget to help the elderly woman.
“I approached business people and builders in the area and they offered to help,” he says.
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