If you thought I was deep enough in the South African bush to forget about Valentine’s Day – you’re wrong. I received an sms just after midnight telling me “Happy Valentine’s Day,” I was given a fake rose and had many people shout “Happy Valentine’s!” as I walked around town today. Granted all of these gestures were from my girl friends – not from some pursuing knight in shining armour, but it is telling just how much of the “first world” has seeped into the culture of even the most rural areas in South Africa. My sister also gave me a card that read,” To Zanele. Mandela spent 27 years in jail to find freedom and created by the poverty in the world and me spend the last 2 cents to say Happy Valentine’s Day and I love you so much. From: Ntombe” God, I love this country.

I must admit that I, too, participated in this day by giving my sisters and mom fake roses. Why not real roses, you ask? Come on, this is Africa!

Aside from all the progress happening with the youth organization, which I will touch on in another post, this day turned out to be pretty great. In December I received a package of beautiful handmade blankets from an RPCV in PA – Priscilla White – who organized the making of these blankets. I told her I could find some very deserving mothers here who could use these blankets and before I knew it they had arrived. While it may be winter in America, we are in the dog days of summer, as they say, here in South Africa. While I would have preferred to give the blankets away in the very cold months of June and July, I just couldn’t let them sit in my room until then.

I contacted the nurse at the clinic who asked the nurse in charge of Mothers 2 Mothers – an organization that supports mothers who are on ARVs – to pick seven mothers who could benefit from these gorgeous blankets. Unfortunately, I arrived at the clinic about two hours late because we are in the middle of our life skills training, so some of the mothers already left (they will receive their blankets later this week). I greeted those who remained, explained to them why we invited them there, where the blankets came from, sipped some cold drink and distributed the blankets. They were all very excited and grateful and I hope to be able to provide more in the colder months.

Valentine’s Day is a holiday Americans love it hate. But come on, whether you have a Valentine or not, the day is about love and how can love ever be a bad thing? This was for sure the best Valentine’s Day I’ve had in a long time! Sending all my love to my loved ones overseas 