I: Hello, Thank You Very Much for Coming to Talk to Us Today

I: Hello, thank you very much for coming to talk to us today. My name’s Dan and this is my research partner Amanda. Amanda’s going to be taking some notes while I talk to you and this video recorder will be on so we don’t miss anything that you want to tell us. Is that okay?

R: *nods*

I: Okay, Thank you for agreeing to talk with us today. We are trying to gather some information for the center here and the church so that they can better serve community members like you so your answers are really important to us and the people who work here at the center. Please speak as freely as you would like to speak. Your responses will only be shared by the centers staff and used for educational purposes.

T: Can I just check if he understands you?

I: Yeah.

T: *translates*

R: *nods*

I: Okay

T: He’s fine.

I: First I’d like to ask you a few questions to get to know you a little better. Do you get to see the movies?

T: I have to explain everything because he doesn’t understand.

I: Okay yeah.

T: *translates*

R: *Responds*

T: Never.

I: Never?

T: Never went to the movies.

I: Do you get to listen to music?

T: *translates*

R: *Responds*

T: No he doesn’t because theres none at home.

I: Oh

T: Theres no music at home yeah.

I: I’d like to begin with a few questions about you and your household members. First off what is your name?

T: *translates*

R: *Responds*

T: The name is Sonwabile. His name is ??????

I: Okay, Can you write it down here for me?

T: *translates*

I: Can you also write your address there?

T: *translates*

I: Do you have a phone?

T: *translates*

R: *Responds*

T: They don’t have a phone at home and theres someone who has a cell phone but he doesn’t know the number.

I: Oh okay. Thank you. Uhh, what is your age?

R: Eleven, uhh twelve years old.

I: Twelve years old? Excellent.

T&R: *converse in Kosa*

R: *writes down answer*

T: Okay January?

R: June.

T: June. *translates*

R: *gives back book*

I: thank you. And, uhh, how many people currently live in your house?

T: People?

I: Yeah people, how many people?

R: Six

I: Six?

T: Mmhmm, six.

I: And can you tell me their names and how they’re related to you?

T: *translates*

T: Do you want him to write them down?

I: Yeah could you do that?

T: Okay.

T&R: *speak in Kosa as respondent writes*

I: And how old are each of them?

T: Do you want their ages?

I: Yeah

R:*writes*

T: Is the volume fine? Are you able to record everything okay?

A: The volume’s checked yeah.

T: Okay

I: And are either of your parents currently living?

T: Both parents have passed, the mother and the father, so he is staying with the grandmother.

I: Okay, so the primary caretaker is the grandmother?

T: Yes it’s the grandmother.

I: Do you go to school?

T: Yes

I: What grade are you in?

R: Grade 5

I: Grade 5, and what’s your favorite subject?

R: Natural science.

I: Natural science. I like science too. And whats your least favorite?

R: Khosa.

T: His own language Khosa.

I: Khosa?

T: Khosa yes.

I: Why’s that?

T: So he’s saying he doesn’t know the language very well.

I: Oh.

T: *laughs* Its so funny because its his own language.

I: Yeah, well I didn’t like English in high school.

T: Is it?

I: Yeah. Well, do you like your teachers.

T: Yes he does.

I: Is there anyone at school you can talk to about the problems that you have?

T: Yes there is, Miss Gulwa. Her name is Gulwa, GULWA.

I: And how often do you go to school?

T: everyday.

I: Everyday? And how do your school fees get paid?

T: Umm, He’s saying normally they, it doesn’t manage to pay it the same year. Normally they get paid the next year.

I: Okay, are there times you feel you don’t have what you need to go to school?

T: He’s sayingNo

I: okay, now I’d like to ask you a few questions about how you spend your time when you’re not at school. Do you have any free time?

T: Is it at school or at home?

I: At home.

T: yeah

I: What do you do in your free time?

T: He’s playing.

I: Playing? Do you have any good friends?

T: Yes he does.

I: How did you become friends with them?

T: They met at the location through playing soccer.

I: Okay What kinds of things do you do with your friends?

T: They play soccer, ooh I don’t know the other game, I don’t know what can I call the other game in English.

I: Uhh, what is?

T: But its normally you use stones and you draw a circle around them, so you you you pick up one stone each. Theres another stone that you just throw it up. So you must quickly take the one that you must take before the one comes down.

I: Oh okay.

A: We play umm with a rubber ball.

T: okay.

A: And little pieces of metal and we call it jacks.

T: Okay.

A: And you have the little pieces of metal and you bounce the ball and the ball goes up in the air and you pick up as you can.

T: Okay

A: You start with one, and then you do two.

T: Yeah we play it using stones like these small stones.

I: And where do you spend your time when your not at home or school?

R: The game shop.

T: The game shop.

I: The game show?

T: no the game shop.

I: Okay the game shop. Are there things that you like to do that you don’t get to do?

T: yes there are, like throwing.

I: Throwing?

T: Okay and like forming things with clay.

I: Oh okay, Have you ever been to the top of TableMountain?

T: No

I: How about RobbenIsland?

T: *Shakes head no*

I: The cape of Good Hope?

T: The Cape of Good Hope. The Cape of Good Hope. No, he doesn’t seemingly even know the place.

I: Oh he doesn’t okay. Now I’d like to ask you some questions about your daily living conditions.

T: Okay,

I: Do you have a house of your own?

T: He’s asking if it’s a stone house or what kind of house?

I: Any kind of a house.

T: Yes they have it’s a shack.

I: A shack. Do you have electricity in your house?

R: *nods*

I: Running water?

R: *shakes head no*

I: So do you have an indoor bathroom?

R: *shakes head no*

I: Do you have heat?

T: In what way?

I: In any way, really.

T: Like a heater or something?

A: yeah other than candles.

T: Okay no they don’t.

I: A refrigerator?

T: yes they have.

I: Do you have food everyday for all of your household members?

T: No

I: No. Clothing?

R: Yes

I: And do you have shoes for everyone in your house?

T: Okay yes.

I: And what is your neighborhood like?

T: Umm, he draws it as a pit like place.

I: A Pig like place?

T: A pit like place, pit pit, as in rubbish.

I: Do you feel safe at home?

T: No.

I: Do you feel safe leaving your younger siblings at home?

T: No

I: Now I’d like to ask you some questions about HIV and AIDS.

I: Has everyone in your household been tested?

T: He doesn’t know

I: Okay, Do you know where to get HIV testing done?

T: No he doesn’t.

I: And do you know if any of your household members are HIV positive?

R: *shakes head no*

I: Next I’d like to ask you a few questions about your household responsibilities. What does a typical day look like to you?

T: He’s not finished I just cut him off. He wakes up, and ummm wash, he goes to fetch the water first because they don’t have running water, and then he eats.

T: Okay, he makes the bed, umm and then he goes to school, and when it’s not a school day, he doesn’t go to school, he goes and plays.

I: Okay, and what is your household’s source of income? How does your household make money?

T: I’m trying to explain now.

T: It’s the grandmother’s grant, pension grant.

I: Okay.

T: Okay so like, normally they go, the grandmother goes and takes food at a certain shop, umm and then it becomes a debt when they don’t have money so when the money comes- the pension money comes, they they go and pay that amount and then they take another grocery.

I: Do you have any outside help caring for your siblings?

T: No there’s no one,

I: No?

T: *cell phone rings* May I?

I: Yeah go ahead.

T: Okay.

I: Uh, was your mother at home or in the hospital when she died?

T: She was at home.

I: And what about your father?

T: He was at the hospital.

I: How long ago did, uh, your father die?

R: 2003

T: 2003

R: March

T: Okay March.

I: How about your mother?

R: 2003 April

T: 2003 April.

I: Were you with either of them when they died?

T: He was with the father. The mother was staying somewhere else in Kenancha.

I: Do you want to talk about what that was like?

T: Yes he would like that.

T: Umm, at the first time they were with, watching TV with him, so the father didn’t speak. So like because they didn’t know what was wrong with him they had to to take him to the hospital. And then after a while they sent him back. And then he did the very same thing again.

T: The second time he stayed five days at the hospital.

T: Then he never came back so they were told that the father has passed.

I: Did other people think that your mother or father had HIV or AIDS?

T: No

I: Was there anyone else to care for you and your siblings to cared for you after your mather and father died?

T: Yes there was the grandmother.

I: Okay, and do people at school treat you differently since your parents passed away?

T: No

I: Now I’d like to talk to you about what you know and how you feel about AIDS.

I: Do you worry about getting HIV?

R: *nods*

I: And how do you think people get HIV or AIDS?

T: By sleeping around.

I: Okay and why do you think people get it? Is it because they sleep around too much or?

I: Like why do you think they get it, like is there any reason why they give it to people that get it who sleep around?

T: Can you repeat that for me?

I: Okay, like why do you think people get it, like is there any reason why they get it?

T: Okay.

T: *Translates*

R: *responds*

T: He says yes it’s because they have sex.

I: And where did you learn about how HIV is spread?

T: They learned it from school. So they were told that if someone that has HIV and AIDS sleeps with another person, it gets in and he or she infects the other person who doesn’t have it.

I: Okay, uhh, what do you, what symptoms do you associate with HIV?

T: Okay, the rash thing that looks like brown pimples, and gets thin, the person gets thin.

I: And where do you go when you have questions about HIV?

T: He goes to the clinic.

I: The clinic? Uh, what what sort of stuff do you ask them?

T: Umm, he asks them how do you get AIDS and he asks about TB as well.

I: Oh okay, and now I’d like to ask you about your household and your relationship with your siblings.

T: *translates*

I: Uhh, where did you learn how to care for your siblings?

T: *laughs* He doesn’t know.

I: Oh, he doesn’t know.

T&R: *converse in Khosa*

T: I think its because now I was asking him how old are the other ones that are younger. So he’s saying the other one is ten and the other one is five. But the five year old one is not living with them.

I: Oh.

T: So that’s probably why he doesn’t know how to care.

I: Okay, well, uhh, has your relationship changed since your parents passed away – the relationship with your siblings?

T: No

I: And uh, what does your household need that it doesn’t have currently?

T: TV, music, fridge, that’s okay then.

I: I’d like to ask you a few questions about this center now. Uhh, what help does this center provide you?

T: They offer food to them. And they play, they get to play. That’s all.

I: And, uh, what does the center not provide that might help you?

T: Pardon.

I: What does the center not provide that might help you?

T: Okay *translates*

T: To buy them clothes

I: Is there any other help that you would need that’s not available to you right now?

T: So that they don’t get abused.

I: Have you ever been abused?

T: Yes.

I: By who?

T: By the father. So he was normally used to beat him whenever there was no reason to.

I: Oh

T: Sorry, it doesn’t make him feel right so as you can see he seems a little bit emotional.

I: Sorry about that.

I: And in closing what would make you feel more hopeful about the future?

T: He looks up to his grandmother a lot.

I: What are your own hopes and dreams about the future?

T: Is to continue with the studies, not to smoke, and not to vandalize or not to do anything that is wrong.

I: Uhh, what would make you feel more hopeful about getting to that dream?

T: To go to the church.

I: To go to church? Okay

T: And to listen to the teachers at school, and to do the homework. Okay, That’s all.

I: Is there anything else you’d like to add at all.

I: No?

T: Uh uh.

I: Okay, Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. We have learned a lot and we will be sharing the information that we have collected with the center. Thanks so much.

T: *translates*

I: Thanks.