Ngipheni Ngcobo who is 57 year old participated in the 24th annual Zulu reed dance for virgins at the Nyokeni palace in South Africa.
Ngipheni Ngcobo
Meet an usual virgin named Ngipheni Ngcobo from South Africa who recently participated in the recent Swazi dance for virgins with other young girls.
She is old enough to be their grandmother, but, at 57, Ngipheni Ngcobo fitted in well with the thousands of bare-breasted Zulu maidens who flocked to Nyokeni Palace in Nongoma for the 24th annual Zulu reed dance on Saturday. Occupationally, she is a school vendor.
The reed dance was introduced by King Goodwill Zwelithini in 1984 to encourage young girls to abstain from sex before marriage. Ngcobo started attending soon afterwards.
She was once in love. Nearly 20 years ago, her fiance had even paid ilobolo (Marriage interest price) for her, but his infidelity left her heartbroken. She vowed never to fall in love again.
She said, "We had been seeing each other for 10 years, but we had never had sex. When I found out he was having an affair with another man's wife, that was it for me. Maybe I would have understood if it had been just another girl, but did he have to do it with a woman who was married?"
Since then, Ngcobo, who looks a few decades younger than she is, has never been involved in a romantic relationship. Not that men don't try to win her heart. She is just too wary of contracting HIV/Aids from a relationship.