[island101]

About: Faith, 21 Years old from Cape Town, South Africa

Hello friends and family, here’s the update of my latest adventure in Swaziland. As many of you know, I grew up in South Africa, but traveled a lot with my parents when I was younger. When I was 10 years old, we traveled to Swaziland where we attended the reed dance. For those of you who never heard of the reed dance, it takes place every year. It is a traditional dance and ceremony where Swazi maidens dance for the royal family. One of the requirements is for girls to be at least 21 and still a virgin.

After attending the dance and learning the history of it, I became obsessed with the idea of taking part in the event myself. Throughout the years there have been girls from outside Swaziland who have participated in the reed dance. Usually they did not follow the same rules and restrictions as the local girls. After many years of allowing non-Swazi girls to participate, a new requirement was instituted that everyone who participates must follow the same rules.

To show I am taking this experience seriously, I have been living in Swaziland for the past two months, learning the dance and Swazi culture. I’ve had fun and made many new friends.

One of the requirements that non-Swazi girls in the past avoided was submitting to the virginity test. Since I was required to follow the same rules, I had to be tested. The organizers gave me a date and time to go to a house in the village for the test. When I entered the house there was a line of girls waiting for the test. The line started outside a curtained area that was being used as the testing area. The line moved quickly and when the girl in front of me was done and left the curtained area I entered through a break in the curtain.

There were three local women in their late 40's or early 50's sitting on the floor. They seemed pleasant, but were all business as they asked me to remove my underwear and sit on the floor in front of them. I reached under my dress and slipped my underwear off and sat down on the floor in front of them. They asked me to lie back, pull up my skirt to my waist and spread my legs, so I followed their instructions.

The woman sitting directly in front of me put on rubber gloves. Then she put her hands on my thighs and spread them even farther apart. The other two women stared intently as the woman with gloves spread my labia to do a visual inspection. Although embarrassing, I tried to relax and not let my anxiety get the best of me. The women said something to each other, but I couldn’t understand what they said. Then the lead woman inserted her index finger into my vagina and felt around inside for a few seconds before taking it out. She then snapped off the glove and said I could get up and put my underwear back on and that I passed the test. I’m not exactly sure how they can tell whether or not I’m a virgin as I’ve been riding horses for years and my hymen is no longer intact, but I appreciate their verdict. After I left the curtained area some of the girls I knew asked if I passed and I told them I did. They were exited I’d be participating with them and gave me high fives.

When the day of the dance arrived, I met the girls I’ve been practicing with for the past two months at a local house. One pre-ceremony ritual is to bathe in the morning in a nearby river. The girls and I undressed in the house and wrapped blankets around ourselves so we wouldn’t have to bring our clothes to the river where they could get muddy. I’m a little shy, so I undressed under my blanket while most of the other girls let it all hang out. Then we left the house and walked to the river wrapped in our blankets, getting attention from everyone we passed.

When we got to the river I was surprised there were a couple dozen men, women and children on the banks. They were standing around talking amongst themselves and to the girls bathing in the river. I think they were mostly family members of the girls. Without shyness, the other girls stripped off their blankets, careful to hang them up on a nearby tree to make sure they stayed dry and clean, and then walked into the river. It was clear I was to follow their lead so I took off my blanket, hung it up with the rest and hurried to the river that would shield me from the onlookers. I tried not to look at the small crowd, but out of the corner of my eye I saw my white skin was attracting some attention.

When I walked into the river I was surprised the water was barely above my knees. I followed the other girls’ lead and sat down in the water for modesty, as the water wasn’t very clear. Now I felt less exposed to the crowd. When we were done bathing, we walked to our blankets hanging from the trees, dried off and wrapped the blankets around ourselves for the walk back to the house.

When we got back to the house we dressed in our traditional costumes. In the past, very few non-Swazi girls went topless, but due to the rule change I was required to wear the same traditional costume that lacked a top. I guessed it wouldn’t be as traumatic as my fully nude bath in front of the villagers, but there were so many spectators that it felt weird being topless in front of them. Not only were there people from Swaziland, but there were people from all over who came to watch including international press. I also learned dancing vigorously without a bra can be a little painful.

The dance was great, I didn’t make any mistakes. After the dance the king asked to meet me. He thanked me for attending the dance and for respecting their culture. As I was talking to the king, members of the media asked if we could pose for a picture together, so there are probably topless photos of me with the king in various newspapers around the world as mementos of my cultural experience.