Lorraine Young

Adapting visual methods: action research with Kampala street children

The paper examines the use of four visual ‘action’ methods for eliciting information from street children about their interactions with the socio-spatial environment. These methods were adapted and used to encourage child-led activities and minimize researcher input. The advantages and constraints associated with the successful implementation of visual methods with children are examined, followed by a brief examination of the ‘real’ and ethical considerations surrounding their use. The paper concludes that visual methods allow a high level of child-led participation in research, as well as providing a stimulus for eliciting further oral material.

Enabling households to support successful migration of AIDS orphans in southern Africa

Most southern African orphans are cared for by extended families but the implications of the spatial dispersal of such families are seldom recognized: orphans often have to migrate to new homes and communities. This paper, based on qualitative research conducted with children and guardians in urban and rural Lesotho and Malawi, examines orphans’ migration experiences in order to assess how successful migration might best be supported. Most children found migration traumatic in the short term, but over time many settled into new environments. Although much AIDS policy in southern Africa stresses the role of communities, the burden of care lay with extended family households. Failed migrations, which resulted in renewed migration and trauma, were attributable to one of two household-level causes: orphans feeling ill-treated in their new families or changes in guardians’ circumstances. Policy interventions to reduce disruption and trauma for young AIDS migrants should aim at facilitating sustainable arrangements by enabling suitable households to provide care. Reducing the economic costs of caring for children, particularly school-related costs, would: allow children to stay with those relatives (e.g. grandparents) best able to meet their non-material needs; reduce resentment of foster children in impoverished households; and diminish the need for multiple migrations.

Fluid Households, Complex Families: The Impacts of Children's Migration as a Response to HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa*

Abstract The fluidity of southern African families is related to a long history of internal and external migration. Currently, HIV/AIDS is having a dramatic impact on extended family structures, with the migration of individual members employed as a coping strategy. Childrens migration is one aspect of this that is often distinct from that undertaken by other household members. This article is based on qualitative research conducted in Lesotho and Malawi with young migrants and the households that receive them. It examines the processes of fragmentation and re-formation of households through the movements of children that are taking place in response to HIV/AIDS, and explores the impacts these processes have on young migrants and the households they join.

The ‘Place’ of Street Children in Kampala, Uganda: Marginalisation, Resistance, and Acceptance in the Urban Environment

In this paper I examine the ‘place’ of street children in Kampala, Uganda, highlighting their ingenious and resourceful use of the urban environment. Considered ‘out of place’ in urban public space, street children create their own niches in the marginal spaces of the city. By looking at untouchable spaces, underground spaces, and rooftop spaces I show how they develop their own place identities. For survival, street children react to their exclusion by resisting this out-of-place image and encroaching into crowded spaces or by dominating the street under the cover of darkness. However, in certain city spaces, street children are also legitimised and accepted by other street users if they conform to the desired behaviours of that space. The place of street children in Kampala is one which is contested, resulting in a multiplicity of street childrens niches being created which vary both spatially and temporally.

Ethics and Participation: Reflections on Research with Street Children

There are important ethical issues that must be carefully thought through when undertaking research with children. This paper explores how the context of such issues changes with the individual circumstances of the children involved, particularly when they are marginalised or excluded by wider society. By reflecting on experiences of research with Kampala street children, this paper highlights how participation throughout the research process can both raise and resolve ethical dilemmas. This is illustrated by reflecting on two examples, namely discussing sensitive topics and the dissemination of socio-spatial research findings. In conclusion, the paper demonstrates the importance of ethical sensitivity to the changing situations that arise when conducting research with street children and the importance of incorporating and involving them in both the research process and ethical dilemmas.

Young AIDS migrants in Southern Africa: policy implications for empowering children

Many AIDS-affected children in southern Africa engage in migration when household members fall sick or die from AIDS, or because they are sent to assist relatives. Despite this, little attention has been paid to the consequences of these movements for childrens lives. Multi-method research, conducted in Lesotho and Malawi, revealed that children sent to live with kin commonly move over long distances and between urban and rural areas. They are generally not consulted or informed about these migrations and face a range of associated difficulties, particularly with integrating into new families and communities. Severed family ties exacerbate the difficulties faced by children who end up in institutions or on the streets. This paper advocates that policy approaches for those affected by AIDS should be children-centred and take into account the implications of migration at three levels. First, many of the difficulties children face could be overcome if they were familiar with the place and people they were moving to. Second, children would be better able to cope with new situations if they were included in family discussions with decision-makers regarding their migration preferences. Third, maintaining ties with kin would ensure that children do not become distanced from their family and cultural heritage, which is essential for post-institutional support.