Staff at the Engage men’s clinic were seen loading their belongings onto a large auction truck during the somber day.
Thanks to the funding from USAID and Pepfar, this organization offered essential HIV therapy to the members of the LGBTQI+ community.
Following the closure, major concerns have risen regarding the availability of services and treatments for the community.
Engage organizers plan to auction off their assets to generate enough funds to pay their over 70 employees who recently lost their employment.
Joseph Adams, the project manager of OUT LGBT Wellbeing program of Engage Men’s Health clinic, confirmed that employees were placed on unpaid leave after the Trump administration ended Pepfar funding in January.
These former workers will now be part of the millions of South Africans searching for job opportunities.
“Our staff included clinicians, lay workers, administrative personnel, and more who relied on this job for a living, yet, it’s also their passion and accomplishment,” emphasized Adams.
“To inform them that they no longer have a job… it’s challenging,” he added.
The freezing of U.S. foreign aid by the Trump administration has also forced many United Nations organizations to cut staff, budgets, and services worldwide, from Afghanistan and Sudan to Ukraine and beyond.
