United States funding cuts shredded specialised services at a transgender clinic in the heart of Johannesburg. But a new collaborative initiative refuses to let this be the end of the journey for trans clients.

Tuesdays on Esselen Street, Hillbrow used to be favourite days for *Kat. The Wits Reproductive Health Clinic (RHI) is based here and it's where Kat works. The strip was abuzz on this day of the week when transgender people were among the clients arriving for services.

"It was more than a clinic, it was a safe space," says Kat. It's late October as she climbs the stairs leading to what used to be the waiting area. On the steps are painted messages of encouragement and motivation like, "Your health is your happiness. You deserve it".

There is a bright display at the foyer entrance as a welcome and the blue and pink signs throughout the building resemble location markers from a mobile phone app - they're guides for trans clients, also a literal signpost that a journey of a thousand steps begins here.

Kat is walking with her colleague *Didi. Both are linkage officers, connecting and navigating patients through care. They were also clients receiving their hormone therapy through Wits RHI. They call each other sisters because their kinship is bound by the intimacies of joys and struggles, victories and losses.

The massive loss that struck this year began with...