Interdisciplinary Journal of Rural and Community Studies

Health challenges and coping mechanisms of female street children in Harare, Zimbabwe

Dennis Mhuru, Paddington Mutekwe — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0200

This study explored the health challenges and coping strategies of female street children aged between 8 and 15 years. Existing studies on street children have generally viewed the problems faced by both girls and boys. This paper contributes to this body of knowledge by investigating the phenomenon of street children from a gender perspective, specifically focusing on female street children in Harare, Zimbabwe. A qualitative approach was employed, and data were collected through 17 in-depth interviews. The findings indicate that female street children face challenges such as a lack of sanitary pads, poor diet, inadequate hygiene, and substandard living conditions, all of which often result in mental health problems. To cope with these challenges, female street children engage in drug use, undertake marginal work, scavenge, beg, and rely on donations from NGOs and the government. The findings also revealed that they use clothes as facemasks and consume lemons as coping mechanisms against health needs induced by COVID-19.

Rural students' pathways to higher tertiary education in Zimbabwe: Overcoming barriers, promoting inclusion and success

Nowell Chidakwa — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Accessing higher tertiary education for rural students in Zimbabwe is a complex journey shaped by various socio-economic, cultural, and geographic factors unique to their circumstances. This study examines the experiences of rural students in accessing, participating in, and attaining higher tertiary education through the lens of Freire's theory of critical consciousness. It employs a critical emancipatory research paradigm, utilising participatory action research methodologies. Twenty participants were purposively selected and actively involved as co-researchers throughout the research process to identify empowering practices that can transform their educational realities. Data was collected using focus group discussions and Photovoice, allowing participants to share narratives and visually represent the barriers in their educational journeys. Critical discourse analysis revealed various factors that shape educational trajectories, such as geographic isolation, financial constraints, a lack of collegiate guidance, and the internalisation of negative perceptions about rural identities. Findings also highlighted protective factors, including strong family and community support systems, self-determined mindsets, and engagement with college-bridging programmes. Through critical dialogues, participants explored ways to challenge internalised stigmas and develop critical literacies to navigate systemic barriers. The PAR process enhanced participants' critical consciousness and enabled them to collectively generate rural student-led solutions for equitable educational access. The importance of adopting strengths-based and culturally sustaining approaches that amplify the voices of rural students in transforming policies and practices was highlighted. Importantly, this study demonstrated the emancipatory potential of PAR in fostering resilience and self-advocacy among rural students, thereby promoting higher tertiary education as a means for social and economic mobility.

The elusive ‘promised land’: South Africa’s rural community struggles after thirty years of democracy

Theodore Nkadimeng Mahosi — Sun, 26 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0200

This study highlights the struggles of Black South Africans in rural communities, which define inequalities and socio-economic conditions thirty years after the first democratic elections in 1994, regardless of the ANC's promise of “a better life for all.” The purpose of discussing these challenges was to explore selected areas relevant to these issues as a delimitation. A closer look at the socio-economic history of a people reveals factors and circumstances that either promote, sustain, or challenge the livelihoods of a society or community, as in South Africa, race and geographical location define social status and quality of life. Such circumstances have particularly affected Black South African rural communities, who continue to experience abject poverty and destitution. This points to a departure from the Batho Pele Principles, which aimed to focus on socio-economic development programmes. The data used was ‘desktop’ from secondary sources, reports, and policy papers deemed relevant to the study and related to the experiences and struggles of rural communities against inadequate education, sustainable livelihoods, water and sanitation, and health, among others. The study concluded that, despite the gains of democracy, more needs to be done. An Afrocentric perspective was preferred because it is suitable for conceptualising, operationalising, and understanding social human problems such as rural community struggles outside the confines of Eurocentric knowledge ‘paternalism’. An Afrocentric method was used to present the findings of the study, based on the identified subtopics.