Mixed-age relationships: Is age really just a number?
Jana Botha and Frans Czepek have a 30-year age gap between them. Their relationship has been going strong for five years.
The saying "love is blind" is complemented by the common phrase "age is nothing but a number". Most people agree that the age of a person should not influence who they are allowed to love, but in many cases a gap between partners' ages that is larger than perhaps ten years is frowned upon.
Increasingly, however, there are people who are intent on challenging this notion, saying that a large gap in age does not make their relationships strange or invalid at all. One such couple is Jana Botha and Frans Czepek, who have a 30-year age gap between them. Jana, who is 41, has been in a relationship with 71-year-old Frans for five years.
Jana and Frans were introduced by a mutual friend and hit it off immediately. They share a common interest in scuba diving and have a similar outlook on marriage: as they have each been married and divorced before, they are in no hurry to tie the knot. For Jana and Frans, getting married is not the only way to prove that they are committed to one another.
While Frans is now a pensioner, Jana spends her time running her own tax and accounting practice. Jana says the couple does receive questions from outsiders about the large gap, but they are not bothered by the inquiries because the two of them accept each other - and that is all that matters.