Qhawekhazi (isiXhosa) noun. Heroine / the woman who is a hero with the courage to love another woman.

A diagnosis starts with a conversation. But what if you didn’t even have the words to tell a nurse or doctor who you are? Or worse, the only way to describe yourself was a slur. Some people in South Africa don’t have to imagine this. They live it.

In many South African languages, the words to describe people who identify as LGBTQI+ are derogatory and violent, the organisation Find New Words says. It’s something that’s even come out in the work of artist and photographer Zanele Muholi.

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