Agency on journeys to school through urban slum terrains: experiences of preschool OVC

ABSTRACT

Adjustment in lives of children affected by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa is widely discussed in relation to schooling, but studies on agency in their journey movements to and from school for preschool children is limited. Although accessing schools for these children is understood in the context of adult facilitation, their own account of agency in journey experiences is not widely reported in research. The challenge is on how preschool children affected by HIV/AIDS conceptualise agency in their mobility to and from school and how this can be methodologically studied from children’s perspective. This article explores preschool children’s agency in journeys to school through urban slum terrains, challenges they face and how they negotiate them. The participants were purposively sampled and they included 45 preschool orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) aged 5-to-6 years old. Data was collected via multiple qualitative methods which included conversational interviews, drawings, focus group discussions and observations. The findings showed children exercised agency through negotiations, decision-making and avoidance of real and latent risk which potentiated them with confidence, independence and autonomy. In view of these preschool OVC’s subjective day-to-day experiences, age was not a limitation to agency they potent. Thus, preschool OVC within poor urban settings need to be seen in the light of their capabilities to negotiate very difficult circumstances in their daily experiences. Although this article is drawn from a study of a smaller sample, it provides stimulus for future research endeavours which may consider larger population for generalisation.

KEYWORDS:

• Agency
• Preschool
• OVC
• journeys
• urban slums
• Nairobi-Kenya

Acknowledgments

I acknowledge all the participants in the study whose contributions provided insights captured in this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.