Ace Bhengu builds house for struggling elderly woman back home

The Swallows striker told Phakaaathi that helping out where he can in his community is something impressed on him by his late grandfather, Phithiza Bhengu.

“It’s nothing much. I just felt like helping out a gogo who has no one left to help hier,” said Bhengu who was reluctant to speak about his act of kindness, saying it was not for publicity.

“You know I don’t like going public about things like this because it’s God’s work not mine,” he reasoned.

But when it was put to him that this is a good deed that could encourage others to lend a hand where needed, he relented.

“You can only do as much as God has allowed you by what he has given to you. The house was started earlier this month and finished last weekend,” he said.

The house is built back in the village where Bhengu grew up and where his family are still based in KwaSwayimane outside of Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal.

He said it saddened him that his village has become mostly known for criminal activity, which includes the killing of the elderly, which has been in the news over the past few years. He said he couldn’t sit and do nothing when this elderly woman didn’t have proper shelter.

“Gogo Gqagqela was there for my family and showed us love and comforted us when we lost our grandfather and grandmother in quick succession.

“And secondly, it didn’t sit well with me that she lives in a house that doesn’t have a proper roof and struggles when it rains with water coming in. She got old in winter and that made me want to do something for her. I wanted to build her a bigger house but I also don’t have much myself.

“The will to help others in need is something I learnt from my late grandfather ‘Ndevenkomo’ (Phithiza Bhengu),” explained the 30-year-old striker.