Culture versus Exploitation
If history is simply his/story, where shall we find her story?
Last week the king called all the flowers of the nation. In traditional Swazi culture people are divided into regiments according to age and the Imbali, the flowers, are teen aged girls. Each year king Mswati looks over his 14 to 18 year old subjects and chooses yet one more female to give birth to his off-spring, the privileged ones.
The 'Flowers' from all over the nation gather to sing and dance - orphaned daughters who take care of their siblings, girls who enter the sex trade due to poverty, educated girls, and uneducated girls who can not attend school because of compulsory fees. A family can be fined if they do not send their daughters to the Reed Dance.
The girls may catch a glimpse of a princess or two wearing designer sun glasses and one inch artificial finger nails. It's hard to imagine them eating a traditional Swazi meal of pap and lakusha (porridge and greens) using their hands! This is not Swazi culture - it is aristocratic greed.
Umhlanga 2006 - Reed Dance
http://swazilandsolidaritynetworkcanada.wikispaces.com/Umhlanga+2006
After the dance and festivities, the girls all go home and continue to be the most vulnerable in their society. Children and youth are often abused in Swaziland and reading through daily papers indicates how girls are perceived. Rape is reported on a regular basis, unbearable stories of fathers raping daughters, uncles raping nieces, men raping children and step-brothers raping their step-sisters. There are organizations which seek to help these victims of abuse yet the government will not provide a safe society for young girls and women.
When basic rights are neglected how can a culture of exploitation be praised?
To follow current events in Swaziland see
http://swazilandsolidaritynetworkcanada.wikispaces.com/
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