Rukhshana Deserves Dignity and Hope.

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International Pride Month of June has passed with South African Pride month of October still to come, and queer celebration must persist. However, how can we be saturated with celebration, knowing that the majority of the transgender community in South Africa are in a persistent struggle for survival, access to primary healthcare, including gender-affirming healthcare (GAHC)?

October 1990 marks the first Pride march in South Africa — particularly, where LGBTQIA+ communities across South Africa and representatives across Africa were welcomed to march in solidarity. Pride, if anything, is a combination of celebration, protest, and community-driven initiatives for support. And, most importantly, Pride in this sense extends beyond two ‘given’ months of the year.

Support today by helping organise, share, donate, and invest in queer South African Youth.

This is an urgent call for financial support to the cause, Let Rukhshana Live.

You can make a difference, by donating, sharing, and supporting this campaign for Rukhshana (28) based in Cape Town, South Africa.

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Rukshana started her Masters degree in Gender and Transformation at the ASFI/AGI in 2022. Once starting her gender-affirming transition in 2023, during the second year of her masters program, Rukshana is now struggling to finish her masters.

Leaving home in 2023 due to the hostilities around her transition, Rukhshana has lost the funding for completing her degree. However, this is not the only part that she has unfairly had no choice but to compromise in the past two years since Rukshana has had to be self-sufficient and self-supporting in her transition as a South African Trans Woman.

Without financial support, and amidst the loss of her main sources of funding, Rukshana works part time, irregularly helping make ends meet. Rukshana’s monthly income does not cover the cost of accessing her basic needs, i.e. her rent, toiletries, transport, as well as her GAHC services and expenses. GAHC includes being able to afford clothing, makeup, toiletries, and other cosmetic products. Rukshana has persistently and unfairly been pushed to choose between these necessities, and basic survivable living necessities.

“If I can afford these things, they will alleviate a lot of the mental distress that comes with dysphoria and the financial strain of transitioning on my own, without the support of my parents. [And] this would make things a lot easier to finish my degree”

—Rukshana (@assignedmilfatbirth)

Rukshana is celebrating two years on estrogen in August 2025. By donating to Let Rukshana Live, all of the proceeds will help fund Rukshana to do more than struggle to survive and secure access to finishing the degree she has worked incredibly hard to embark on, as well as to supporting in reinvigorating dignity and hope for Rukshana that has been stripped from her life unjustly.

It is incontestable that currently, there are anti-transgender narratives being weaponized to the extent of systemic attempts to erase or eradicate gender-diverse communities, on a global scale.

In the same way, it is a fact that where black, brown and coloured transgender women are concerned, the systematic erasure and struggle pointedly infiltrates their lives intersectionally. Oppression is imposed on these women at the intersection of their racial identity, socioeconomic status and background, in terms of wellness and security, as well as their womanhood.

This is an urgent call for financial support to the cause, Let Rukhshana Live.

You can make a difference, by donating, sharing, and supporting this campaign for Rukhshana (28) based in Cape Town, South Africa.