In February, IOL spread the love with our #MyHeart competition where we asked readers to send a shout out to their loved ones to stand a chance of winning some amazing prizes.
Whether it's the love of your life, your BFF, your dog, your cat, your mom, your boss or your second-removed cousin on your grandmother's side, we wanted to know why you appreciate them so much.
Here's one of our winning entries from Achumile Ngantweni, who has won two bottles of Strawberry Lips.
I would like to send a shout out to a very special lady, my mom. There’s quite a lot of things that makes her very special to me, and basically, my life.
She is my:
1. Teacher and disciplinarian. She raised and groomed me to be the person that I am today. An ambitious person who has a fearless pride, a go-getter and a person who always put positive attitude when doing beneficial things. She taught me endurance, pain, happiness and all that they will fall on me but I shall never give up. She also taught me how to be responsibility.
2. Safety and security. She becomes a lioness when it comes to anything that will harm me nor hurt me. She jumps up first and fast like a lioness to protect me at all cost. She made sure that I do have a roof over my head all my life and everything in-between.
3. Love and affection. This is biggest thing that I wish for a mother to have for their child(ren). My mom ensures me that I never doubt her love and affection for me. She would rather sleep hungry than seeing me going to bed with an empty or half-full stomach. She goes all out to get me what I want so I can be like other children who shares 4 walls with their moms and dads. She let me see my dad whenever but I grew up feeling like I have a model who is a 2-in-1, a mom and a dad.
Without that woman, I don’t know where my life would have been right now. She was there when my dad wasn’t and made sure that I become a mindful, positive and tolerant child. For that, I will always love her.
Read more #MyHeart stories here.