Social Networks, Migration, and Care in Tanzania

Abstract

This paper explores the impacts of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on children and families in northern Tanzania using the concept of social resilience.1 The study is based on the findings of child-focused research with street children and children and families from HIV/AIDS-affected households. The paper illustrates the coping strategies that children and young people, and parents and caregivers adopt at the household level. In particular, it examines how the burden of care affects different generations of women and highlights their resilience, together with the importance of social networks and the fluidity of movement between rural and urban areas. The research suggests that migrating to urban areas to seek a living in the informal sector represents a survival strategy adopted by some children and young people orphaned by AIDS when their families and communities are unable or unwilling to support them. The paper concludes by exploring parents’, caregivers’, children's, and young people's views on the forms of social support that would promote their resilience and thereby help to mitigate the impacts of the epidemic at the household level.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank all the children and young people, parents and caregivers affected by HIV/AIDS who participated in the research and shared their highly personal, and often painful, experiences with me.

Notes

1. This paper is based on a presentation entitled, “Social Networks, Migration and Care in Tanzania: Supporting Women, Children and Young People's Resilience,” prepared for the 2nd African Conference on the Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS Research, International Convention Centre, Cape Town, May 9–12, 2004, organized by the Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa (see: www.sahara.org.za).

2. The names of all the research participants have been changed to protect their anonymity.

3. The semi-structured interviews were tape-recorded and the quotes presented are translations of Swahili transcripts of the recordings.

4. Elements of this data have been discussed in Evans (2002).

5. See Note 4.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ruth M. C. Evans

Ruth Evans, Ph.D., is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Applied Social Studies, University of Birmingham. Her doctorate explored the gendered experiences of street children and other children in difficult circumstances in Tanzania. Her research interests include children and families affected by HIV/AIDS, street and working children, young caregivers, concepts of childhood and gender norms, and children and young people's participation in decision-making