INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD CARE IN URBAN SOUTH AFRICA

childhood. (Emihovich, 2006) A common message found in the materials produced by
large-scale, international charities is an appeal to this ideal. For example, the websites of
three of the largest international charities, World Vision, Mercy Corps, and World Relief
highlight Child Protection and Youth Development as one of the primary services
offered. The majority of these organizations offer child sponsorship opportunities as a
further appeal. Other international aid organizations are entirely child-centric, explicit in
their names. Save the Children, Feed the Children, and the Children’s Hunger Fund are
among the most widely recognized organizations in international development circles.
To describe the perception of children as defenseless and the instinct to protect
them as a uniquely Western phenomenon would be overly broad and inaccurate.
However, it is fair to say that the dynamic of child services in international development
contexts is often constructed in a way to appeal to Western understandings, drawing on
cultural sympathies and ideals. Thus, many of the complexities and nuances behind
orphan care or children’s services are omitted from materials produced by organizations
when they have the potential to distract from a narrative conducive to greater donations.
Western charities and Christianity are two important lenses through which orphan
narratives have been articulated. These lenses have been employed for so long that the
effect they have had cannot be ignored.
The International Context
Western Disparity
While the term “orphanage” remains the most widely used term to describe
institutionalized child care, only a minority of contemporary institutions resemble to the
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