Browsing by Author "Msaky, Esther"

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    Historical changes in the social handling of orphans: the case of the Chagga in Moshi rural district - Kilimanjaro region
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2005) Msaky, Esther
    The main objective of the study has been to identify the changing context in exercising social responsibility relating to the care of orphans among the Chagga people of Moshi, from 1940 to 2004. The study is based on the theory that reciprocity fostering, characteristic of traditional society has given way to crisis fostering of orphans. The study critically reviewed the relevant literature on orphan care in other countries, as well as in Tanzania and specifically in Chagga society in Kilimanjaro region. Basing on documentary and oral sources the study examines the factors that have restructured the caring system in the last 60 years. The study has established that fostering in orphan care has been transformed from the erstwhile system of reciprocity fostering to crisis fostering by the HIV/AIDS epidemic which first appeared in Kilimanjaro region in 1984. The burden of caring for orphans by the extended family networks has increased as a result of the large numbers of these children which the families have to handle. Also, the ability of these families has been challenged by socio-economic developments, some of which can be traced back to the colonial period. Colonialism brought with its new change in Chagga society which affected the ways orphans have been cared for. One of these is Christianity which eroded the institution of levirate under which paternal orphans were cared for. The introduction of the cash economy and formal education complicated the handling of orphans. In the more recent period additional pressure has been brought to bear on household economies by the economic crisis which began in the 1970s and by structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) which sought to address the economic crisis. The introduction of cost sharing in hospitals and in schools and retrenchment reduced the capacity of the family to provide such services to its own children and other (fostered) children. Locally in Moshi district, population pressure, recent drought and the drastic decline of coffee prices have also negatively impacted on orphan care through the failure of the families to provide basic needs to children. It is against the backdropping of these developments that the pattern of orphan care has changed to include a diversity of actors. These include maternal relatives, NGOs and initialized care in orphanages.