INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD CARE IN URBAN SOUTH AFRICA

provide guidance for some of the teenagers as they learned various life skills.
The differences in cultural perspectives surrounding emancipation and
independence were visible as my conversations went back and forth from Pastor Mike to
the teenagers. In addition to cultural differences there were also generation gaps, perhaps
more exaggerated for this generation than ones past due to the dramatic systemic changes
in South Africa over the past twenty years. Unsurprisingly, this often led to
disagreements between staff and children over what should be expected for one’s final
years at the center. Lindikhaya told me that some of the boys who had recently left the
center did so after failing to reach an agreement with staff members. “This is a difficult
scenario for me,” admitted Pastor Mike. “One of the few times things are a bit different
from how I would be able to handle things if this were my own child. When I take
children in, I commit to decades of caring for them, but of course if they do not want to
receive the care that I have to offer and what comes with it, then I am not in a position to
stop them from pursuing their own path.”
Times that this happened were apparently rare. Expulsions were also a rarity, in
spite of the one that had happened just a month before my arrival. Some supporters
disagreed with how the center handled cases of teen pregnancy in the past, but this was
also a rarity despite South Africa having an above average rate of teen pregnancies. Girls
who became pregnant would be sent away from the center, however Pastor Mike clarified
what happens in those instances. “We do not have the resources to care for later stage
pregnancies here,” he explained. “We also cannot care for a newborn. We do have other
facilities and centers we are partnered with, and that is where girls go if they get
pregnant.”
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