Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

At least two of five Kenyans view Valentine’s Day as both a commercialised day and a celebration of love, according to a new survey.

The survey by One Pulse-Kenya revealed that 26 per cent of the respondents viewed the lovers’ day as a commercialised one in the name of love.

Another 23 per cent of those interviewed said the day, celebrated every February 14, has had everything to do with love. This perception was, however, opposed by another 12 per cent of the respondents who said the day had nothing to do with love.

Three of every 10 persons interviewed said they would spend between Sh1,000 and Sh4,999 on gifts on Valentine’s Day, while 23 per cent said they would spend between Sh5,000 and Sh10,000 on the day.

Nineteen per cent, however, vowed to spend less than Sh1,000 while 14 per cent said they would spend between Sh10,000 and Sh30,000, the survey revealed.

Another 12 per cent said they would spend between Sh30,000 and Sh50,000.

Two per cent of those interviewed pledged to spend more than Sh50,000 on their lovers on the day.

Twenty-six per cent of those interviewed said they would spend their money on clothing, make-up, jewellery and shoe items on the day while 23 per cent said they would spend the hard-earned cash on personalised gift items.

Functional gifts

Another 16 per cent said they would spend their money on functional gifts such as furniture while 14 per cent were not sure what to spend on.

According to the survey, 13 per cent of the respondents said they would spend their money on perfumes, 12 per cent on flowers, ten per cent would give cash to their lovers and nine per cent on alcohol while another nine per cent said they would offer surprise gifts.

The survey further revealed that 41 per cent of the respondents would shop at Jumia online shop, another 28 per cent at supermarkets, 10 per cent at Amazon, 12 per cent on vendors on social media and sixteen per cent on other shopping platforms.

Those interviewed said they planned to go on holiday to Mombasa, followed by Naivasha and Diani.

A majority of Kenyans, however, opts to order in for Valentine.

Yesterday, the tent outside the Kenya National Archives, Nairobi was teeming with people of all sizes willing to donate blood.

Nairobi Woman Rep Esther Passaris stood up from the blood donor bed and scented a fresh red rose flower.

“Wow,” she exclaimed as she scented the red rose again. “I have not received a rose flower in a long time, and today I have one,” she said. Kenya’s highest female blood donor, Aisha Dafalla, was at hand to present the red rose and a package of niceties to the politician.

Dafalla has donated 70 times since she started doing it at the age of 17 years as a Form Three student at Khalsa Girls Secondary School, Nairobi in 1981.

Passaris said blood is so important that without it those who need it will die. Thus, she appealed to every Kenyan wishing to celebrate Valentine’s, to take advantage of the day and show love to those who need blood by coming to donate.

“Please show some valentine love today; bring your loved one, come and donate blood then go out and have an amazing day,” she said noting that every single day should be Valentine for those who think it’s only on February 14 when they give out flowers to their loved ones.

The Ministry of Health’s Kenya National Blood Transfusion, Tissue &Human Organ Transplant Service (KNBTTS) yesterday set up 40 sites for blood donation across the country, to coincide with Valentines Day.

KNBTTS Chief Executive Officer Nduku Kilonzo said the country’s blood requirement is between 500,000 to 1,000,000 pints, and as a result, the department has put in place strategies to ensure the demand for safe blood and blood products is met. “We will celebrate Valentine month by conducting blood drives across the country,” she said.

The main theme of this year Valentine Donation is “Love for Life”. The sub-themes are “we ni type yangu and My gift for valentine”.

She said every single unit of blood donated will save four lives.

“So for me, if every Kenyan took a moment on days like this to express love by donating one unit of blood, you would have given us a lot of blood units to save more lives,” said Dr Kilonzo.

NMS Director for Health Oluga Ouma said red is the colour of love and blood.

“That shows you there is a big relationship between a celebration of love and the efforts that we must make to ensure that blood is available for our loved ones whenever they need it,” Dr Ouma said.

During the month, KNBTTS will be encouraging Kenyans of ages between 16-65 years to celebrate their valentine by donating one pint of blood. The celebrations will be carried out in all counties where satellites have been established.

The celebrations target to receive more than 20,000 pints of blood from donors.