Acknowledging the specifics of the African Context?

Given the determining role of intergenerational solidarities and the movement of children within the extended family, one can question the definition of an orphan in an African context.

In Africa, a large number of children do not live with their biological parents and are not raised by them; they are often fostered by the extended family: in Senegal, for example, child fostering is very common as 25% of children under age 15 do not live with their biological parents and 35% for children of the 10-14 age group. In Cameroon, the proportion of foster children is estimated at 22% Locoh, 2002. The placement of children within the kinship network and through connections is a long-standing and frequent practice in Africa. Thus, many children, when they become orphans, did not necessarily live with their biological parents. Even if a child lives with his or her biological parents and if one of them dies, he or she may not be considered an orphan because the traditional rules governing African societies facilitate the care of these children in particular through the movement of these children within the kinship systems. Therese Locoh points out that:”the care of related children has always been a means to handle health crises and to protect children if their parents die. This is the case with the AIDS epidemic. Grandparents—but also uncles, aunts, and older siblings—are in the front line to assume the care of orphans. The movement of children between various related households is not restricted to orphans. It is a very common practice, which makes the child part of the extended family circle and not exclusively raised by his or her biological parents”  Locoh, 2002.

In most African cultures, the child belongs to the community who will take care of the child as soon as he or she is in need, respecting the duties and rules of intergenerational solidarity; therefore, the status of orphan is commonly unrecognised in most of sub-Sahara African communities Skinner, Tsheko et al., 2004.

According to dialects spoken in Zambia, there is one term that describes an orphan but it is not used for children who are cared for by members of the family UNICEF and UNAIDS, 1999. In a study carried out by Skinner et al. in communities across Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, it appears that the community definition of an orphan does not only refer to the loss of parents but also to the incapacity or refusal of the extended family to take care of the child. Conversely, an orphan is not recognised as an “orphan” as long as he is cared for by the extended family. According to most of the interviewed groups, an orphan does not always become vulnerable. This would depend on the quality of care-taking.

Moreover, Skinner et al. show in this study that for the surveyed communities, there are no age limitations to define an orphan Skinner, Tsheko et al., 2004. Indeed, childhood age limitations to vary according to contexts and societies: ”the transition from childhood to adulthood (…) varies with cultures and (…) is not necessarily determined by age but rather by a particular moment in life such as marriage” Appaix and Dekens, 2005.

Another study supported by UNICEF and carried out in Zambia also revealed the difficulty in defining the orphan status within the interviewed communities. Many Zambian communities consider children orphaned only if they do not live with an adult relative. In some communities children who have lost both parents but are under the care of some other relative may not be presumed to require special assistance unless they also are very poor. Many Zambians prefer the term "vulnerable children" to "orphan" because children with parents are often hardly better off in material terms than those whose parents have died, and are considered equally deserving of assistance. The study found that while 75% of orphaned children live below the poverty line, so did 73% of children with parents Fleshman, 2001.

Lastly, it is also important to mention that the legal definition of an orphan varies from country to country. In Namibia, an orphan is a child under the age of 18 who has lost a mother, a father or both, or a primary caregiver. In Ethiopia, an orphan is a child under the age of 18 who has lost both parents whereas in Uganda, a child under the age of 18 who has lost one or both parents will have the orphan status Smart, 2003.

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