Coping Strategies for the elderly looking after Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in rural Zimbabwe

Master's Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Sociology - Gender Studies, grade: 2:2, National University of Science & Technology Zimbabwe (National University of Science and Technology), course: Masters Degree in Disaster Management, language: English, abstract: This study was carried out against the background of HIV/AIDS having caused an orphan care crisis in Zimbabwe, with the brunt of care falling on the elderly who are themselves weak and frail due to age and socio-economic challenges. This burden fell on mainly the grandmothers who have had to bear the burden of caring for large numbers of orphaned grandchildren, with little or no support from the surviving members of the extended family or other sections of the community and government. They faced a lot of challenges in their new care giving role which included lack of food, lack of money to pay for school fees for the orphans, etc, these challenges added on top of the health problems that the elderly caregivers were enduring with which were age related like BP, Back ache, Arthritis, diminished eye sight etc. Against this background the study sought to determine the major causes of orphanage care, to identify the major challenges faced by these elderly caregivers in taking care of the orphans, and also to establish the coping strategies used by these elderly caregivers in upbringing the orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) under their care. The study also determined the role played by Government and other stakeholders in assisting this group and also made recommendations of interventions that can help. This study would assist Government and other aid organisations in their planning, decision making and strategy formulation.