Abstract
D.Ed. (Educational Psychology)
Hope builds resiliency and, therefore, as a protective phenomenon has particular relevance
to orphans and vulnerable young people who face adversity on a daily basis. The
HIV/AIDS pandemic is adding more strain to the already overburdened safety nets of
families and communities in South Africa, where the emergence of child-headed
households and the rising numbers of vulnerable young people calls for a more
comprehensive response to address their needs and to protect their rights. Many are
traumatised - suffering abuse or trying to cope with poverty and the pressures of daily
living. Hope is unlikely to emerge and be sustained in young people left to fend for
themselves. The purpose of this inquiry is to explore the processes of constructing hope in
the lived experiences of young people from child-headed households to invite others to
join the spaces of conversation in building support for orphans and vulnerable young
people - domains that support a discourse of hope.
A social constructionist inquiry with a grounded theory research design involving four
young people representing the child-headed household was conducted at a secondary
school in Soweto in partnership with a non-governmental organisation. Guided by
narrative and participatory practices, the data collection process extended over nine months
with the participants using the metaphor of a journey. The journey provided an opportunity
to work in healing ways as a researcher to thicken stories of hope in their lives, at the same
time providing rich data for analysis. The narrative approach seeks to ‘re-author’ problemsaturated
stories - stories which are filled with the challenges of orphanhood, abuse,
abandonment, poverty and neglect. Methods used included individual and group
conversations, expressive art exercises and photo voice to capture their hopeful stories. The
co-constructed hopeful stories were then used as data for analysis using a constructionist
approach to grounded theory. This in turn helped to develop a conceptual framework to
understand the processes of nurturing hope in the lives of orphans and vulnerable young
people - based on their own voices.
By identifying what helps young people to nurture hope in their lives, support structures
that provide opportunities for growth rather than merely helping them to cope, invite us to
challenge more conventional understandings of support for vulnerable young people. The
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story of our journey provides a broader understanding of the processes of nurturing hope in
the context of vulnerable young people. Findings offer an alternative view of hope from
generally accepted Western understandings that are essentially individualistic. A 4-D
understanding of hope is presented which recognises the importance of hope as a practice
and the role of possibilities in empowering young people to transcend adversity in seeking
a better future. Recommendations advocate raising standards in the support of vulnerable
young people from a preoccupation with ‘coping’ strategies to an awareness of ‘hoping’
schemata – a repositioning that seeks to protect young people; to strengthen them to cope
with adversity; to support them to meet their needs and protect their rights; and to find
opportunities to transcend their adversities and realise their future aspirations.