By Desire Wright | Human Resources Manager
Isn’t it amazing how quickly the first 3 months of the year tend to fly by? At Hlokomela it seemed to be at breakneck speed this year. Despite the extremely difficult funding climate due to the loss of USAID funding for our mobile HIV Testing Services Project, this organisation has once again proven its resilience. As the saying goes: "when the going gets tough, the tough get going!"
But, if it were not for the support from our loyal GlobalGiving family, we would surely be nowhere. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your continued support of this organisation!
Women’s Clinic nurse trained on pelvic and abdominal ultrasound scanning
Sr Mankoana Motswi attended Abdominal and Pelvic Ultrasound training with Impilo Medical Systems on 1 March 2025.
She was the only registered nurse attending the training, with all the other participants being medical practitioners (doctors). Although the course proved to be quite tough (the tough got going :-) ) The focus was more on learning the practical skills than on mastering theory and covered topics such as ultrasound safety and transducer movement.
The facilitator advised Sr Motswi to practice daily - just like a beginner pianist. Ultrasound is about knowing anatomy first, correct setting of the ultrasound machine, then scanning daily to gain experience.
Right e-pharmacy mini smart locker installed at Kapama Game Reserve
In February the Right to Care team installed the new Hlokomela mini smart pharmacy locker at Kapama Nature Reserve. It is a pilot study for primary healthcare services including acute problems treated by making use of the Tyto telemedicine service and consultation. Further training on the new locker was done on 26 February 2026 at Hlokomela Blyde Clinic Hall by the Right to Care team, Corneel Kraamwinkel and Gustav Mohlahlo, on prescribing, pre-loading and loading parcels in the locker.
Basic Life Support training for registered nurses
Hlokomela nurses ready to save lives! On 16 and 17 March, our 7 professional nurses received refresher training on CPR, choking and AED (Automated External Defibrillator). These training certificates are only valid for 2 years so we are always up to date.
Training was facilitated by Kaleb Lachenicht from Epic Institute of Emergency Medicine at Hlokomela Blyde Clinic.
Patient referred for breast biopsy
During January 2025 *Sina Mathebula came to Hlokomela Women's Clinic complaining of a lump in her breast. Sr Mankoana Motswi did an ultrasound scan confirming the presence of a lump. Sr Motswi referred Sina to the mobile breast cancer screening unit of the Scan Her Save Her (SHSH) project that recently visited Hoedspruit. The helpful staff of Keystone Medical did a free mammogram for her in February and through collaboration with the Breast Health Foundation team, Sina was referred to Prof Carol Benn in Parktown, Johannesburg whom she consulted with during March 2025. Sina was accompanied by her employer's HR manager and they are waiting for her results. Sina's patient journey gives us much hope for our breast cancer patients as this partnership between multiple projects and organisations gives her a real chance on life!
*Pseudonym used to protect the patient's identity.
Body based stress and trauma therapy for tourism staff
On 4 March 2025, three of our Hlokomela Tension Releasing Exercises (TRE) facilitators, Desiré Wright, Kgopotso Manamela and Tshepo Lewele, facilitated four sessions of this body based therapy to staff members at Kapama Game Reserve.
TRE® is an innovative series of exercises that assist the body in releasing deep muscular patterns of stress, tension and trauma. At Hlokomela we have used this technique for the past 13 years as a staff debriefing method and also offer it to community members who have suffered through traumatic events or are just looking for an alternative to talk therapy or traditional counselling to heal.
42 lodge and reserve staff members attended the sessions that took place during the course of the day.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
