Location
Tsojana Village is situated within the Intsika Yethu Municipality in the Chris Hani District of rural Eastern Cape. It has approximately 1000 inhabitants and is located 25 km away from the central business district of the rural town of Tsomo. The limited transportation facilities isolate the community, hindering their access to vital resources and opportunities.
Family
The people of Tsojana live in close-knit communities, where families often include grandparents, parents, and children residing together within the same homestead. This tight-knit structure fosters a strong sense of generational unity and a deep sense of cultural understanding and continuity.
Home life
Traditionally, the villagers would construct their homes using materials such as thatch, stone, mud and cow dung, however, in recent times, the use of concrete and bricks has been introduced ensuring that most homes are formal structures however critical services like flush toilets connections to sewerage, weekly refuse removal, and piped water inside dwellings are not available to the majority. Most homesteads have chickens, sheep and plant maize and other crops to contribute towards subsistence living. The government has installed a few communal taps however most homes use drums to harvest rainwater. The homes have prepaid electricity which is connected to the government grid however many use it very sparingly if at all, due to the high cost of electricity with many still cooking over a fire and paraffin stoves.
Health
The health of the locals is monitored through a clinic, located 10 kilometres from the village and the hospital is even further. Most villagers have no means of transport outside of walking and the trip can be exhausting especially when villagers are sick, elderly, or pregnant. The resource centre has a local nurse and social worker visit weekly to attend to health issues especially for the elderly, vaccinate the young and provide health-related information, check-ups and referrals.