Terms of Use

Welcome to The Long Way Home. By using this site or subscribing to any tier, you agree to the following terms.

About the publication

The Long Way Home is the first online literary publication of its kind in South Africa — reflections, poems, and letters, published on a subscription basis, for anyone who has chosen the scenic route. Readers may subscribe for exclusive access to this content. All content is written and published by Cassandra Mayekiso-Tabata.

Creative nonfiction

Reflections, poems, letters, and all behind the scenes content are drawn from the writer's own personal, lived, or witnessed experience, and reflect the author's own perspective. Names and identifying details may be changed to protect privacy.

Free access without an account

Visitors browsing the site without an account may read the latest published Reflection and the latest published Poem in full, at no cost, with no account required. Once a visitor has read the latest Reflection and the latest Poem, further access to Reflections and Poems, and any access to Letters or behind the scenes content, requires creating an account and selecting the desired subscription tier.

Subscription tiers

The Long Way Home offers three tiers:

Gentle Readers require an account to receive access, at no cost, to Reflections and Poems, for the duration of their subscription.

Fellow Travellers require an account and a paid monthly subscription ($11/month, approx. R180) to receive access to member-only Reflections, Poems, and Letters, along with behind the scenes audio clips and musings on the process, for the duration of their subscription.

Founding Companions require an account and a paid annual subscription ($188/year, approx. R3,074), offered on its own terms and not interchangeable with the monthly tier, and receive the same access as Fellow Travellers for the full duration of their subscription, along with additional benefits specific to that tier: quarterly voice notes from the road, an annual letter, a permanent place amongst my companions, and early access to new publications and events.

Subscription fees are billed in advance, in the currency and interval stated at the point of subscription, and are processed securely through Paystack. Rand values are calculated at approximately R16.35 to $1 as at 5 August 2026, for reference only. Subscription tiers and pricing may be reviewed and are subject to change on an annual basis.

Gift subscriptions

A Fellow Traveller or Founding Companion subscription may be purchased as a gift for another person. The person purchasing the gift provides the recipient's name and email address, and the recipient will be invited to create an account to access their subscription. If the recipient has not created an account within 90 days of purchase, the person who purchased the gift may contact hello@thelongwayhome.co.za to request a refund. Once the recipient has created their account, the subscription becomes subject to the standard cancellation and refund terms of the tier gifted, as set out below, and no refund is available to the original purchaser from that point forward.

Cancellations and refunds

Gentle Readers accounts may be closed at any time and carry no fees, as no payment is taken for this tier. Fellow Travellers may cancel at any time; cancellation will take effect at the end of the current billing period, and no further payments will be taken thereafter. Founding Companions subscriptions are annual by design and are non-refundable once the subscription period has begun, except where required by law.

Failed payments

This does not apply to Gentle Readers, as no payment is taken for this tier. If a subscription payment fails for a Fellow Traveller or Founding Companion, you will be notified by email and given 7 days to update your payment details before access is suspended. Payments are not automatically retried.

Intellectual property

All content, including reflections, poems, letters, and any behind the scenes content, is the intellectual property of Cassandra Mayekiso-Tabata and The Long Way Home, and may not be reproduced, republished, distributed, altered, or otherwise used without prior written permission. This includes any use that misrepresents the work, quotes it out of context, or associates it with defamatory, misleading, or unauthorised commercial content. Content may not be shared, repurposed, or redistributed in any way that generates income for the party doing so, without prior written permission. The Long Way Home is a trademarked name, and its use in connection with any other product, publication, or service is not permitted without written consent.

Acceptable use

You agree to use this site respectfully and not to reproduce, resell, or misuse any content for commercial purposes without prior written consent. The Long Way Home has no tolerance for bullying, harassment, or other harmful behaviour, including in comments, messages, or any other area where readers may interact with the publication or with one another. Any account found to be engaging in such behaviour may have its access restricted or terminated, at our discretion.

Changes to these terms

These terms may be updated from time to time as the publication grows. Continued use of the site or subscription following any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

Contact

For any questions regarding these terms, please write to hello@thelongwayhome.co.za.