Cape Town - It's been a long and lonely journey for this transgender woman, but the end is in sight.
As South Africa celebrates Women’s Month, Chedino Wessels will finally be realising her dream of becoming the “woman she was meant to be”.
After 15 years on a waiting list, the 40-year-old from Heideveld will undergo gender reconstructive surgery at Groote Schuur Hospital this month to become a female.
An excited Chedino said on Tuesday: “I have dreamed about this day all my life and it’s finally here. I always felt different growing up and I knew this was what I am destined to do.”
She says it’s been hell being a woman trapped in a man’s body.
“I have female features and I’ve always felt female. I never used my penis for anything besides urinating."
“I would tuck it away even at night when I go to sleep."
“I despised having a penis because I felt it was just in the way. I have never peed standing up, I always sat down.”
But she changed her mind when doctors mentioned that having a large penis was actually a benefit in her case.
“The surgeon says that if you have a large penis it’s better because the bigger the penis, the bigger the vagina will be, and this was good news in my case, as I’m quite blessed down there, if I do say so myself,” she laughs.
And she reckons, “I never had sex [using my penis] with a male or female, ever, so I consider myself a virgin."
“On two occasions, a female tried to kiss me, but I didn’t even get an erection."
“When being intimate with a man, my penis also doesn’t get erect, so it’s really proof that having a penis [for me] is pointless.”
Chedino, who has breasts and who has already changed her gender at Home Affairs, says she is ready to be “complete”.
Chedino used hormones for her breasts to grow. Picture: Patrick Louw
“Having a vagina isn’t about sexual pleasure, it’s about feeling complete. I already have breasts because of the hormonal treatment I’ve been on for 15 years.”
On 17 August, Chedino will undergo three operations.
“I will have breast augmentation [enlarging the breast], orchiectomy which is the removal of both testicles, and vaginoplasty, the tightening of the vagina.
“I am ready and excited for this operation and look forward to enjoying my life as a complete female."
“I am getting married next year and I am surely going to enjoy my honeymoon,” Chedino giggles.