In the small village called eNqgele, near eDikeni (Alice) in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, is where Dr. Matshabane was born and raised in a traditional Xhosa home by her grandparents. In Ngqele is where she spent her first 1000 days – which developmental psychologists posit are a critical phase of a child’s life, as the things that occur to and around the child significantly influence the child’s brain, body and emotional development.