Chapter 10: Development of multi-disciplinary model for OVC
5. Risks and coping mechanisms
8.3.3 Life at home
The ecosystem theoretical framework strongly posits that childrens’s experiences at their home eventually affect their performance at school, as already discussed in Chapter 2. It portrays a reciprocal relationship between OVC and their environment, as already discussed. Therefore, the OVC’s experiences at school cannot be separated from their home experiences. In the South African context, the majority of orphans are cared for by their extended families, but there are those who stay alone or are family heads, caring for their siblings or ailing grandparents.
Most of the participants indicate that life at home without their parents is not easy. They co-generate the following sub-themes in their discussions: discrimination, home responsibilities, nobody’s child, blaming.
8.3.3.1 Discrimination
Participants agree that life in their respective homes is not easy, as they do not receive the same treatment from their caregivers as they treat their biological children. As most of these participants are in their teenage or early adulthood stage, they are overtly conscious of the different treatment:
“We are not treated the same and this is the reasons why we have internal issues and think deep. In some cases, you may think taking drugs may help”.
“The treatment we get from caregivers is not the same as with their children”.
“In some cases, you find that when it is the birthday of biological children, they buy stuff like cake, snacks and a nice cola drink. And when it is your turn for a birthday, they don’t buy a cake. They may buy an inferior cola drink like tweeza. You
observe and see the difference”.
“They give their children gifts in secret and when you ask, you are not answered well. Sometimes, when they give money for lunch box, they give me only five rand and their children will be given ten rand. Sometimes, caregivers don’t give us what we ask from them, but they give their children when they ask them”.
“This increases our pain, because you think deeply about the way your mother used to treat you and how they treat you at the moment”.
“Even the people that you used to trust turn their backs on you”.
The issue of OVC being discriminated against connects with what other research studies have cited. After the death of their parents, they are often taken in by people who are not their biological relatives. There is a Sepedi idiom that says, “A cow cannot lick the calf that is not its own”. It becomes difficult for the caregivers to treat these children the way they treat their own children. A research report by UNAIDS (2010) revealed that these children are often denied food or they received less, were denied school fees and forced to do more work at home.
8.3.3.2 Home responsibilities
Findings indicate that participants are feeling overwhelmed by the home responsibilities and this makes their lives burdensome. In fact, this emerges as the key challenge in their discussion. Being responsible for all or most of the housework compromises their education, as they do not have enough time to study and do their homework. However, some have developed resilience capabilities and remain at school after the classes are over to complete their homework and study there; it also provides them with the necessary space, access to electricity and sometimes even to the internet.
Second, evidence shows that the burden of having to do all the housework (cooking, cleaning, doing the washing and ironing, and so forth) and being responsible for the whole household compromises their development as children. Their circumstances deny them the opportunity to enjoy their lives as young children, to be able to play, enjoy friendships, and learn the fun aspects of life. Their views confirm this sentiment:
“When you arrive at home, you find all home responsibilities waiting for you. And they tell you before you eat, you must complete a list of chores and by that time you finish, you are so hungry. After eating, you must go to fetch water, then wash dishes and later cook. By the time you are finished all the home chores, you are so tired that you can’t concentrate on your studies and homework”.
“After school, you must do dishes, ironing, fetch water and cook. They send you to the Indian shops. When you finish, it is late and you say I will see the homework tomorrow. Tomorrow there is no time”.
“You are given more chores. During tests, we are unable to study, because there is so much to do”.
“School work is difficult”.
“This is the reason why we perform poorly at school”.
“In some cases, when you try to sit down to do school work, they send you
somewhere or tell you to do something. When you finish or come back, it is late and you will be wanting to sleep. You have not done your homework and studied your work. The next day, teachers at school will be wanting their work and you have not done it. It becomes overwhelming”.
“We are always working”.
“It feels like sometimes we are working for food, because they will say to you before eating do this and that”.
When asked whether there is a rooster at home for home duties and whether others also help, this participant responds:
“There is; but the problem is that when the biological child does not perform his role according to the stipulated responsibilities, then you are the one that is being blamed”.
“We fail to do homework because of the duties we do”.
Participants confirmed that they are burdened by these home responsibilities. This concurs with the work by Nelson and Christensen (2009), stating that vulnerable children have more responsibilities in home contexts. Observational evidence proves that this has an impact on their academic performance. The findings from a study conducted by Motsa and Morojele (2017) correlate with these sentiments and assert that vulnerable children have too much to do in the home contexts. This means that by the time they finish their home chores, they are too exhausted to be able to still do or concentrate on their schoolwork. Studies have also found that children who grow up in rural areas tend to work