By Palesa Ndinisa
As Valentine’s Day draws closer, people are celebrating this special month by buying each other gifts and loving each other just a bit more. A young couple from Tsakane, Thato Oliphant and Refilwe Mcoco are high school sweethearts and they have been together for six years.
They attended college together until Thato was called up for training at the SAPS. They shared their ups and downs in their relationship and outline how their love bond has been going strong from 2015.
“We started dating when I was 18 years old and I could say he is my first of everything. He makes me laugh, he makes me cry, he brings so much light in my life and I cannot imagine being without him. We have been through it all and we will still go through the worst times but as long as we are together, I am hopeful that we will conquer every challenge thrown at us,” says Mcoco. She also mentions how it was not easy for them to be together as she had strict parents, but as soon as they saw Thato, they instantly fell in love with him, because of his charm, respect and humility. She adds that Thato’s parents hardly gave her a hard time and she is thankful for that.
Thato highlights on the challenges they had thus far. One of their biggest challenges was when they recently lost their first child when Refilwe was pregnant, “I couldn’t wait to be a father. I had everything planned out. I knew I had to do right by my unborn child and my partner, so the plan was to marry her before my baby was born because I wanted to give my child a stable home. However, after we lost the baby, we both sat down and thought maybe we could wait a bit on that and focus on getting a house first, and then only after that we can get married”, added Thato.
He points out that his background played an important role in him being the man he is today. “In high school I didn’t have much and Refilwe stood by my side. When I got accepted for training at the SAPS we were both scared because of the distance that was now developing. I had to be away from her for a year and I’d see her maybe once a month and it was hard because we practically did everything together. After I graduated at the SAPS, I promised myself to do right by her because she is an amazing woman, says Thato gladly.
The couple is now successful and the both said they are looking forward to owning their home in March. “Relationships are great when there is love, respect and understanding between two people. This is why Valentine’s Day is so special to us because it reminds us of how far we came from and that we should appreciate each other at all times.”, Refilwe expressed.
