"We are proof that love is the most durable power in the world"

Love knows no boundaries, even if it means crossing continents, huge cultural differences and skin colour. This was again evident when a young lady from Switzerland married her Venda boyfriend a few weeks ago.

Lufuno Mudau and Selina Dörig recently tied the knot at Bhuba Lodge, near Elim.

According to Selina, their love story began even before the two of them were born. She explained that her parents were travelling through Africa in the late 80s and early 90s. They found their way to Elim, where one of their friends, an optometrist Erika Sutter, was based at the well-known hospital.

“She had the help of a woman born in Elim, named Selina Maphorogo,” she said. “This woman has a heart of gold, which also inspired my parents to name me after her when I was born in 1993.”

Selina Maphorogo’s daughter, Magdeline Mudau, had a son in 1992, named Lufuno Mudau. “Lufuno and I grew up in the same environment, doing gardening and playing together as a sister and brother,” Selina explained. “My parents and I had to go back to Switzerland, but we would visit South Africa every second year, where I would always keep Lufuno company.”

She recalled that Lufuno’s grandmother, after whom she was named, had always treated her like her very own granddaughter. “The colour of our skin didn’t matter, even though Lufuno used to be very scared of whites as a child,” she said.

After completing her matric, Selina flew back to South Africa on her own. She stayed at Maphorogo’s home. “It happened that Lufuno and I very often worked together in the garden, talking, smiling and exchanging many experiences,” she said. “As time went on, we must have both realised that our brother-and-sister-like friendship had become much more than that. One day, after many days of deep thinking, Lufuno approached me and told me about the feelings that he had developed and which he could no longer keep to himself.”

It was not easy for Selina to accept her deep feelings for Lufuno, since she knew that she would have to go back to Switzerland and he would remain in South Africa. “All I can say today is to use the words of Martin Luther King, when he said that love is the most durable power in the world, and we are a living proof of that,” she said. “When I went back home in the year 2014, I left Lufuno in South Africa, but every five months I went back. We used social media such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Skype for communicating every day! We were having a long-distance relationship over more than 8 500km.”

Selina and Lufuno finally tied the knot in a traditional wedding here in South Africa. The couple chose to settle in Switzerland.

“When you love someone, you’ll see distance or cultural differences as nothing to maim your love,” Lufuno said. “Selina and I are deeply in love and are now called a new family.”

News - Date: 13 August 2017

Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

Email: [email protected]