INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD CARE IN URBAN SOUTH AFRICA

My multiple-hours-long interaction with Lindikhaya revealed to me what sort of
opportunities and difficulties awaits children once they leave the center. He left only a
month before my visit so his transition into adulthood was a fairly new one, and one that
was not completely settled. In between his recollections of going to school and stories of
being stabbed, he also told me about his next pursuit. After taking some time to get by
working at a tavern owned by family in Thembisa, he had been accepted into a nearby
learnership program. The program was the reason he had to return to the center to collect
paperwork. “I’m looking forward to it,” he told me, “but it’s going to be a really long
commute every day. I have to take one taxi for twenty minutes, take another for forty,
and then do one last switch. Or I can walk the last leg.” Either way, his commute from
Fine Town would be one hour, each way.
Lindikhaya acquiring a learnership could be considered a successful outcome,
especially given how quickly he gained acceptance, and the relative shortage of
opportunities in professional job markets across South Africa. Learnerships are programs
designed for students who seem to have a more promising future by mastering a trade or
technical skill than with a four-year formal education. These provide young adults with
work experience and personal exposure to a field that could ideally become the basis for
a stable future career. From Lindikhaya’s description, his program seemed most like an
apprenticeship.
A four-year, formal education also remained a possibility, although in its many
years of operation, 5Cees has seen few of its alumni pursue this route. One of the largest
barriers is the sheer difficulty of admittance, particularly for a population that has a high
proportion of reported learning difficulties. In South Africa, a distinction is made
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