Access to the school children

In South Africa, schools are required to identify children who are ‘vulnerable’ for the purpose of providing support, including accessing social grants and helping with line information, referrals, the provision of school uniforms, exempting them from school fees, and so on (DBE, 2013a).

107 At IThemba School, the grade 11 class teacher together with a Life Orientation teacher assisted in identifying the desired group of participants. While at Sindiswa School, the acting deputy principal, also being responsible for the psychosocial needs of the school children, assisted me in identifying the desired group.The teachers offered to explain to the school children in their home language all the information in relation to my study (see Appendix E), including collecting the signed consent letters (see Appendix D) from the parents or guardians and assent letters (see Appendix E) from the school children. The teachers also gave me permission to use their offices to meet with the school children.

Mkhonta (2008), in trying to identify children who were orphans and those who were made ‘vulnerable’ because of social ills, found that class teachers played a vital role in identifying these children. Although the school collects basic information about school children’s backgrounds at the beginning of the year, the class teachers routinely monitor their day-to-day life throughout the year. I, too, found that the class teachers were the ones who best monitored and observed the school children’s attendance, absenteeism and signs of need of support (Khanare, 2008).

Once the potential participants had been identified I met with them at each school. I introduced myself using isiZulu, their home language. I am a Sesotho speaker, so, with the help of a colleague, I wrote down a few lines introducing myself in isiZulu. I rehearsed this with my colleague who at my first attempt, laughed at me and at the second said “uzamile!” (you have tried!). As much as I was told that my isiZulu pronunciation was reasonable, when I introduced myself, the school children laughed. This broke the ice and I used it as a way into talking with them in a more relaxed manner. In deciding to do this I remembered former President Nelson Mandela saying that ‘if you speak to people in a language they understands, you will speak to their heads, but if you speak in their own language you will speak to their hearts’. After the brief introduction, I explained to them in simple terms that I was exploring how school children construct care and support in the age of HIV and AIDS in the rural school context. I talked about the nature of the data generation process, and how the data would be used. I also explained that the reason I wanted them to talk about themselves through generating visual artifacts was to enable them to express their experiences, even those which could be difficult to express in words only. I also made it clear that if they were willing to participate in my study, they would have to

108 do so after school hours or on weekends because I could not disrupt their learning and the teaching processes. All the envisaged activities were explained to them in their home language. They were assured that participation was voluntary – they were free to withdraw at any time or at any stage during the course of the research. I gave them time to ask questions to clarify what we had discussed. In response to some of their concerns I assured them that their withdrawal would not be held against them. I explained that there were no direct financial benefits to them as participants but if and when necessary they would be reimbursed for any transportation costs incurred. Furthermore, I assured them that when we met on Saturdays and/or Sundays they would be provided with meals.

All were assured that all data generated (both visual and written) would be used only for research and publication purposes, and that I would negotiate its use with them and get their consent. As the project unfolded, using an adaptation of the form used by Mitchell (2011) (see Appendix F) to use visual data, I got written consent. The participants were then given letters of consent to take to their parents or guardians and assent letters for themselves. They were given a week to return the signed letters to their teachers. Both letters were written in the school children’s home language. All children were of the opinion that their participation was vital and all assented to participate.

I also mentioned that I would not use their real names nor that of the school. In relation to visual materials, I would use photographs with no faces in them in an attempt to protect their identity. Lastly, I gave them my contact details in case they wished to ask questions or seek clarification. I deliberately gave them my business cards because these have not only my details but the university information, too, both written and visual. While they were captivated by the cards, I emphasised that it would be important to note down their questions or thoughts so that they could raise them in the meetings to follow.

In the following sections I provide the operationalisation of the methodology.