For three decades, Lohandi navigated a world that moved in silent rhythms. Where every encounter and conversation required concentration, lip-reading and determination, until recently…
Pretoria, South Africa (18 June 2026) – For 30 years, Lohandi lived in a world where hearing wasn’t effortless. Every conversation required concentration. Every smile, every word, every laugh had been pieced together through lip reading, determination and resilience.
For three decades, she adapted to a world that moved faster than sound could reach her.
However, on the 22nd of May 2026, the day had arrived for her to undergo a surgical procedure that would finally change her life as she’d always known it.
Thanks to the About Sound Project by the Operation Healing Hands, Pretoria Cochlear Implant Unit, and the Mia Le Roux Movement, a dedicated team performed a cochlear transplant on Lohandi that lasted but a few hours in theatre.
About Sound is a collaborative effort dedicated to raising hearing awareness and expanding access to advanced hearing solutions for people living with hearing impairments.
The true magic unfolded on the 10th of June, when Lohandi returned to the hospital to switch on her cochlear implant, a moment that took less than a minute. After 30 years of waiting, for the first time, sound arrived differently, not as something imagined or as something guessed but as something heard!
A video shared online shows the life-changing moment captured in the doctor’s room where a nervously excited Lohandi got to first hear the voices of the man she loves, her doctor and former Miss SA Mia Le Roux – the voices of loved ones and the sound of life, in a moment most people take for granted.
Thanks to the dedicated, compassionate work of the organisations involved, Lohandi can finally experience the true warmth of human connection – to feel fully present in communities, gatherings, and everyday interactions.
Related Stories
View this post on Instagram
Herman High Learners Help Turn Hermanus Pink for Pauline!
Classroom Flip: SOS Africa Students Take the Lead as Teachers for a DaySources: Operation Healing Hands
Don’t ever miss the Good Things. Download the Good Things Guy App now on Apple or Google.
Do you have something to add to this story? Please share it in the comments or follow GoodThingsGuy on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with good news as it happens, or share your good news with us by clicking here or click the link below to listen to the Good Things Guy Podcast with Brent Lindeque – South Africa’s very own Good Things Guy. He’s on a mission to change what the world pays attention to, and he truly believes there’s good news around us. In the Good Things Guy podcast, you’ll meet these everyday heroes and hear their incredible stories:
Or catch an episode of Good Things with Brent Lindeque or our Weekly Top 5 below. The videos here are always changing, updated with the latest episodes from these two shows. Both are part of Good Things TV, created to bring South Africans balance at a time when the news can feel overwhelmingly negative. Our goal is simple: to remind you that there are still so many good things happening in our country – and to leave you feeling a little more proudly South African.
by 
