There are some people you meet who leave you smiling long after you’ve said goodbye. Gogo MaGwala is one of them.

A week before her 92nd birthday, we travelled to KwaNyuswa in the Valley of a Thousand Hills to meet the remarkable woman who first taught our crafter, Happiness Dladla, how to bead. We had heard that she was still beading every day, and we simply had to see it for ourselves.

When we arrived, Gogo welcomed us with a warm smile, dressed in a cosy gown her children had bought for her. She was delighted to have visitors and immediately invited us to see what she was working on. Spread out before her were tiny beads, a fine needle, glasses chains and beautifully beaded round Christmas balls. Watching her thread such tiny beads with such confidence was incredible. It is hard to believe that hands which have been beading for so many decades can still work with such precision.

Gogo laughed as she told us that she has become very quick at beading. When she is at home on her own with the television playing in the background, she simply reaches for her beads and starts working. She doesn’t sleep very much these days, so she has plenty of time to bead.

She was born in Ntshanga and moved to KwaNyuswa after marrying as a teenager. Although she can’t remember exactly how old she was, she remembers that time of her life with great happiness. She and her husband had four children, although sadly one has since passed away.

Gogo was the younger wife in a polygamous marriage.  It was her sister-in-law, Mrs Nzama, who first taught her how to bead. On her wedding day, Gogo wore the traditional Zulu bridal beadwork worn by makotis in the Valley of a Thousand Hills. She later passed that same skill on to her daughter Happiness while she was still very young. Like many women of her generation, Gogo didn’t begin beading as a hobby. She began because life was hard. “We were poor,” she told us.

She started by selling her beadwork at PheZulu Safari Park before later selling at the Durban markets. As time went on, customers also began visiting the community to buy directly from the bead workers.

She made many traditional items over the years, including glasses chains, hard tube necklaces and imiCalunga – traditional beaded waist adornments. “There were times when I made money and times when I didn’t,” she said. “But by God’s grace, my children grew up.” 

Today, Happiness continues that tradition through her work at Woza Moya. KwaNyuswa is well known for its talented bead artists, and Gogo says many of the women still visit one another to bead together. Beading is more than a skill there; it is part of the community.

Although Gogo sometimes spends her days alone, she says she is never lonely. The television keeps her company while she beads, and if she needs anything, her children are quick to arrive.

She told us that arthritis sometimes troubles her and occasionally sends her to hospital. Whenever she comes home, she is ready to start beading again, although Happiness often reminds her not to rush because beadwork requires steady hands but apart from her joints, Gogo says she has no major health problems. Her blood pressure is well controlled, she doesn’t have diabetes, and doctors often ask her what her secret is. “What do you eat?” they ask. Her answer made us smile. “I eat whatever there is.” When we asked how her skin still looked so good, with hardly any wrinkles, she laughed and gave another wonderfully simple answer. “Vaseline.”

Gogo believes something else has helped keep her young.

“Zingiphethe kahle izingane zami,” she said. “My children take good care of me.”

She repeated this several times during our visit. If she feels even slightly unwell, her children quickly take her to the doctor. If she isn’t able to cook, Happiness comes to prepare meals for her. She said she no longer worries about whether there will be food on the table, and she is deeply grateful for that.

As we sat together, it was easy to see how proud she is of her family. Her son works in Cape Town. Happiness is married with her own family and continues creating beautiful beadwork through Woza Moya. Her younger daughter is also married and her eldest granddaughter, Sthandiwe, is in her final year of studying medicine in Cape Town. Gogo’s face lit up as she spoke about her. “Whenever Sthandiwe comes home, she helps look after me.”

It was a joy to watch Gogo surrounded by her daughters and grandchildren. The only person missing that day was her son in Cape Town. She looked around at her family with such gratitude. Her children have homes of their own, her grandchildren are building bright futures, and she has a comfortable home, food to eat and people who love her dearly.

When we asked what the secret was to living to almost 92, she simply said, “Persevere.” Life becomes difficult, she told us, but you should never compare your home to someone else’s. Even in marriage, she encourages her daughters to persevere because difficult times come and go.

Then she shared some advice that has stayed with us. “Even if all you have in the house is maize meal, that’s your maize meal. Eat it and be satisfied.” That is how she raised her children.

Of course, Gogo also has a wonderful sense of humour. She laughed when she realised she was about to turn 92, saying she couldn’t believe how quickly the years had gone by. She told us she has been receiving her old age grant since around the time her eldest granddaughter was born. She told us about the days when people used to polish their floors with cow dung, before laughing that nowadays her children have introduced her to proper floor polish.

She loves travelling in the car and visiting places. Her children joked that sometimes she would pretend she was sick just so they would take her for a drive to the clinic. Gogo laughed and admitted that she simply enjoys getting out of the house.

We invited her to visit Woza Moya, and without hesitation she said she would love to. She enjoys meeting people and seeing new places. She also laughed when we asked if she thought she would reach 100. “I think I will,” she said confidently. “I don’t even use a walking stick yet.” Her family bought her one, but it still hangs in her room, unused.

The only thing her children won’t let her do anymore is walk all the way to Botha’s Hill. They worry it is too far. Instead, she joins a neighbourhood group of Gogos who exercise together twice a week because she still loves keeping active. She even showed us some of the moves they do, making all of us laugh and smile.

Before we left, Gogo told us how happy she was that Woza Moya had come to visit her. To her, it meant that Happiness was doing good work and that her daughter was appreciated. That meant a great deal to her.

As we said our goodbyes, Gogo walked us outside herself and wished us well.

We arrived hoping to meet a 91-year-old woman who still beads. We left having met so much more. We met a mother who raised her children through beadwork. A grandmother whose greatest pride is her family. A woman of deep faith, quiet strength, endless gratitude and gentle humour, and as Gogo reminded us, sometimes the greatest secret to a long and meaningful life is surprisingly simple:

Persevere.