Cape Town - An 18-year-old transwoman from Grahamstown has become the talk of the town after she successfully completed the summer initiation programme, in which young Xhosa adolescent men go to the mountain for over a month in a bid to become men.
Cwenga Titi made headlines in Grahamstown last November when she revealed that she was the first transwoman to go through the traditional male initiation school.
She successfully completed the initiation and has now been named Makwande, to recognise her newfound manhood.
According to Drum Magazine, Titi, who is currently a Grade 12 pupil at Thembalethu High School in Qonce, was happy that she was able to carry out a custom that was important to her culture.
She said it was not an easy journey because she had to channel her masculine side in order to fit in during the initiation programme.
"Yoh, whenever people came, I had to act straight and couldn't wait for this whole thing to pass at some point," Titi said.
She said she had always felt like a woman trapped in a man's body and claims that she realised she was a girl during puberty.
Titi says she grew up with her cousin's sister and still noticed that her body was changing, developing breasts, having curves, and while hers was the opposite.
“I started doing research to help me introspect on who I am, and it turned out I was transgender and not gay," she recalls.
Cwenga hosted a grand ceremony that drew many people from her community to her home in December.
“Everyone within the community and my family came, and I had so much fun and was relieved that I did it,” she said.
Despite the ceremony going well, she said this was confusing to many of the LGBQT+ community members.
"But there were those who supported me in honouring my isiXhosa culture while others felt like I was dragging the community.“
“So I ended up having mixed emotions because I wanted to do this for myself," she said.
She further revealed that as a new man, she had been given a new name, Makwande, meaning everything that she owns must grow in abundance.
IOL