Trans Wellness Project

29/08/2025

29/08/2025

On Tuesday , 26 August 2025, Trans Wellness Project engaged with service providers in the Matzikama municipality area regarding implementing projects with them as well so that their services are inclusive and respectful towards Q***r people people. Though we send lots of invitations to all government departments, churches, ngos, etc. only four churches, three NGS and two government departments show up. However, the session was fruitful and a learning curve. This also falls under the sup—recipient funds by Gender DynamiX and COSPE for the Nali’Themba Project funded by the European Union.

29/08/2025

As a sup-recipient if Gender DynamiX under the Nali’Themba Project, in partnership with COSPE, funded by the European Union, we as Teabs Wellness Project held a very fruitful meeting with the Q***r Community of Matzikama on Saturday, 23 August 2025. We introduced different projects that will be done and they gave us their ideas what they expected. This was the first meeting for this projects to be implemented.

25/08/2025

Call for Nominations of Trustees: The Other Foundation invites nominations of suitable candidates to be appointed as trustees for 3-year terms of office. The Foundation wants to renew its governance structure by recruiting 2 trustees to maintain a diversity of skills, experience, and perspectives in the leadership of the Foundation, as some trustees retire. Nominations are sought from all sectors in the public, private, and social fields across 13 countries in southern Africa. Nominations close on Friday 12 September 2025. Click on the link to find out more: https://theotherfoundation.org/vacancies/

15/07/2025

01/02/2025

16/11/2024

The ED of Trans Wellness Project, Whitney Quanita Sindiswa Lerato Nomanginqwa Basetsana Ruvarashe Mabasen Phyllis Booysen-Speelman-Khumalo-Coetzee-Steyn, was part of a panel at the ILGA World Conference in Cape Town, South Africa @ the Century City Conference Centre, where they discussed the findings of the Tsirilitsa Research Project that was done in partnership with Gender DynamiX. Such projects and partnerships are very important for the organization.

Currently, the Trans Wellness Project operates without funding and funding is needed for the very important work they do by working holistically with issues faced by transgender, gender, and s*xually diverse people in rural areas. Funders also need to understand the importance of such work also needs to understand the social realities and other realities of working in rural areas. It is important that if funders want to make a change, to come to the community level. Giving money and having certain criteria for reporting, doesn’t always work as such and therefore funders should invest in rural areas and not demand what should happen.

Trans Wellness Project will also search for board members. Individuals who are interested in governing the organization with passion and not abuse that position or use it to make their CV/Resume look good.

Anyone willing to partner with us, fund us, make donations, want to be a board member, want to volunteer, or assist in getting our governance documents and policies in place, as well as to give capacity training and development, please get in contact with our Executive Director at director@twp.org.za.

Thank you.

15/11/2024

Trans Wellness Project attended the Human Rights Report Launch at the offices of Gender DynamiX. Very interesting but also very sad what trans and gender diverse people face in South Africa. We are part of the REAct program as we document human rights violations in Matzikama.

17/05/2024

The question for today is: what does No one left behind mean for us. This question came from the theme of International Day Against Homophobia Biphobia Inters*xism and Transphobia.

17 May of every year is set out to raise awareness of LGBTIQA+ rights violations worldwide. Growing up in one of the rural areas of South Africa, very confused, without resources and without information about gender identity and s*xual orientation was tuff. No one could tell me why I’m feeling different than my s*x assigned at birth and why I feel I’m in the wrong body. There was no information but there was a lot of abuse and bullying.

When we talk about equality, freedom and justice for all, who do we mean or who is all. Even when I realised the difference between s*xual orientation and gender identity and expression, I was and are still left behind. I’m left behind in research, social spaces and programming aimed at me. Why? Because these kind of events, like today, are too expensive to take to rural areas.

LGBTIQA+ people in the rural areas face discrimination on an everyday basis. We must often hear how our lifestyles and life choices (if you want to call it a choice, something I beg to differ with) are against the bible and that we are abominations. South Africa as a country has a very progressive constitution which in my opinion is just a white elephant, something that’s gathering dust somewhere because the human rights of LGBTIQA+ people are not implemented. Not in anyway.

This year we say: No one left behind. Left behind from what? Being a student at UWC had teaches me that I will always be left out or behind in academic spaces. Studying Women and Gender studies, Sociology and Anthropology, I always wonder: where am I in academic spaces. I mean, 2nd year studies in Women and Gender Studies covers me, but that’s it. Being a post-op trans person, taught me that spaces are not made for me because society tells me that I intervened with gods work by making alterations to my body. When we talk about s*xual and reproductive health care, me and people like me are left behind. In the whole of the LGBTIQA+ acronym, the T and I are forever left behind because people don’t know our first priority and our own agency are our gender identity, gender expression and our s*xual characteristics and not our s*xual orientation.

What a powerful theme we had this year. There is such a lot to talk about but I need to be respectful about time. I want to leave you all with this taught: if we say No on left behind, as activists, as academia, who do we refer to.

31/03/2024

Transgender people in rural and remote areas always goes invisible in especially the LGBTIQA+ movement. We are left out in research, left out in programming and left out in many social spaces.

Last weekend we buried Marnechia Lehantyé Nosakhele Adams. A transwoman from Koekenaap. She works as the administrator at Koekenaap Primary School and was the secretary of Trans Wellness Project. The family en Koekenaap Primary buried her in her government name and as “he”. I recently found out that the burial could not register her death because her changes in her ID book was done though she did not received her new ID. The doctor needed to fill in the forms three times because the system deleted the old name and gender and register the new name and gender and therefore the death needed to be registered in the new names and gender. The family choose to go to the burials and demanded that she must be buried in her government identity and her s*x assigned at birth and not her own gender identity. That is what happen on transgender people in rural and remote areas and why we do not celebrate days like Transgender Day of Visibility.

Trans Wellness Project operate with no funding. We are great full for inclusion and support from organisations like Gender DynamiX, Triangle Project and Iranti-org. Thanks to these organisations to always include us in Research, REAct, ID outreach project, film festivals, etc. We appreciate the partnership and inclusion.

I urge and dare people who read this to reach out to me, Whitney Quanita Sindiswa Lerato Nomanginqwa Ruvarashe Mabasen Booysen-Speelman-Khumalo, the founder and executive director, to ask how you can assist and help or to make donations to the organisation. We are also recruiting board members. Inbox me and I’ll give my contact number or send an email to director@twp.org.za or director.twp@gmail.com.

Thank you and happy