Woman of the Week: Valentia

Three years ago, Valentia’s life changed forever when an ex-boyfriend threw acid at her face. Today, she says she’s accepted that she is beautiful, and wants to help other young women in similar situations.

“I was coming back from church, it was around half past 12 during the day. I was walking down the street, going back to my apartment, and all of a sudden someone just ran into me and poured acid on my face,” she remembers.

She discovered the perpetrator was her ex-boyfriend when his family apologized on his behalf. “He said his reasons were because I didn’t want to get back with him, he felt that no one should be with me,” she says.

At first, Valentia struggled to go outside. “I was afraid of what people were going to say about how I look.”

However, she worked hard to accept herself. She says, “I tried my best to accept, and finally I came to the conclusion that this is me, nothing has changed. I’m still beautiful.”

Valentia remembers, “After my incident, I went back to work at Avon, which was a great experience for me because I could earn my money, I could pay for some of the things which I wanted to do when I was at school.”

In the future, Valentia dreams of starting an NGO to help other young women in South Africa who have gone through a similar experience. She says, “I feel like if I start at home to help other young ladies who are facing what I went through, it will have a great impact in the community.”