First Drone From SANBS Driven By Kasi Woman. The drone will allow the SANBS to be able to send blood to isolated rural areas around South Africa when the blood is urgently needed.
Lebohang Lebogo is the first pilot chosen to fly the South African National Blood Service’s (SANB) first ever drone. The drone will allow the SANBS to be able to send blood to isolated rural areas around South Africa when the blood is urgently needed. Lebohang is a 29-year-old woman from Kagiso in Johannesburg.
She will be handling the Tron Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, a high-end aircraft that will help to deliver the blood from the blood banks to the specific hospitals that need the blood in the rural areas. The 29-year-old woman says she has always wanted to be a pilot but her parents could not afford the high fees of taking her to aviation school. This position was her chance at experiencing how being a pilot is.
Lebohang Lebogo says, “I’ve always wanted to be a pilot but my parents could not afford to take me to aviation school. So my mom told me about an opportunity to work as a temp at the blood bank.” The 29-year-old woman is the daughter of a nurse and a mineworker. The woman says she started working at the SANBS since 2008 as a person who was looking after the donors. She was a SANBS medical technician trainee for two years before they took her permanently.
She says she knows how significant it is to donate blood in order to save other people’s lives. She is now using her own money to get herself through aviation school so that she can become a pilot. The 29-year-old woman says she is currently on her student licence and she is working for her private licence.
by Alexandra Ramaite
