The social structure of family in South African culture provides the foundation for the character of children. Although children are usually a strong economic drain on family resources, particularly where there is such a low income rate in South Africa, high fertility continues to be valued for social and cultural reasons leading to families with many children with meager means for providing for them.
The U.S Bureau of Census projected the child population in South Africa for the year 2000 as 34.1% under the age of fifteen years old. This is a staggering statistic compared to the projected 4.6 percent of South Africans 65 years of age and older.
Housing for large families, especially in urban areas, is difficult to find. Many are forced to live in a room with up to four or five other members of their family. In 1982, the mean number of people residing per room in an urban environment was 2.1, as opposed to the rural 1.8 people. Perhaps the most shocking, was the forty seven percent of the population living with their household in a single room. Personal attention is rare in families in Africa due to their large size and the demands in everyday life. Competition for attention, material resources and an education among children is high.
Child care within wealthy families is superior to the child care of children of families with lower economic means. Wealthy families are few and far between the whole South African population. By focusing on children from poorer families, the issue of child care for all children in South Africa and the re-evaluating of the government protection of and aid for children in South Africa will hopefully be remedied.
Disadvantaged children (Blacks and other minorities) will leave the home due to socioeconomic and other factors within the immediate family environment to survive on their own. Children will leave home if their home life conditions are stressful or they don't have parents; as a result of abandonment or death. Children leave their homes for the following reasons:
The majority of runaways in South Africa are boys between the ages of thirteen and sixteen years old. The ages of street children in South Africa ranges between seven and eighteen years of age. Children will leave home if their home life conditions are stressful or they don't have parents; either by abandonment or death. Street children generally leave their homes early to try to survive on their own.
Approximately 90% of street children in South Africa are boys. This is because it it is still observed as a girls' responsibility to stay home and look after the smaller children in the family.
Many street children have little concept of time. They often don't know how long they have been living on the streets. The children can gage time by specific events in their lives on the streets.
About 60% of street children have not been in an institution or shelter, while about 30 % of childre who live on the streets have lived on the streets for more than three years. The more these chilren are distanced from possible rehabilitation recources the more absorbed they become in street life culture.
| Children in South Africa | Health | Orphans | Education | Violence | Organizations |
References
Cockburn, A. 1991. Street Children: Characteristics and Dynamics of
the
Problem. New York: University Press.
Peil, M. 1984. African Urban Society. New York: John
Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Hartman, A. and Laird, J. 1985: A Handbook of Child Welfare:
Context, Knowledge and Practice. New York: The Free Press.
This page was created by Kylie Anderson, Stacy Diavolitsis and Matt
Frankel for a Children &
Society course at Tulane University. This course is taught by
Professor April Brayfield. The purpose of our webpage is to describe
the lives of
children in South Africa. Information about children's lives in
other countries is
available
at the Childhood
Around the World homepage.
Last Updated: December 16, 2000