Child Resilience, Survival, and Development: Voices of Orphans in Zimbabwe

Introduction

Historically, it is argued that in African Traditional Communities, there were “no orphans” since every child belonged to the whole community. The whole community ensured that each orphan got proper support and care, thereby confirming Mbiti’s (1969) proverbial saying; “I am because we are”. People cherished living in large numbers sharing whatever they had as well as observing the expected norms and values and imparting them to their children. The African community used to be one but extended large family and all African languages generally still have words for uncles, aunts’ cousin and niece who comprise the entire family (Kanu, 2010). Marriage was taken as a good and serious commitment in the sense that it is a covenant between two (extended) families, kindred and villages. “Living together” and the sense of “community of brothers and sisters” are the basis of, and the expression of, the extended family system in Africa. This arrangement guaranteed social security for the poor, old, widowed, and orphaned children which is one of the most admired values in the traditional African socio-economic arrangement. This communitarian culture does not exist in the Western perspective which is characterised by individualism and the nuclear family structure. In the African community, a man had the obligation to cater for the widow and orphans of his deceased relative. Failure to do so earned him strong public rebuke and as a result, it was difficult to find someone in the community without help (Kanu, 2010). In essence, the extended family was a veritable instrument in the family cohesion and community continuity and stability. However, it is noted that with the advent of urbanisation and westernisation, most of the families are now a nuclear family in nature and as consequence weakened the social security structures.