Abstract:
The African proverb ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ has been compromised and exposed by
the migration of Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URMs) from Zimbabwe to South Africa.
Written from African women’s perspective, this article explores the response and approach of
Bishop Paul Verryn to URMs. The article theologises Verryn’s response to URMs in conversation
with African values, themes or sayings that relate to childcare, mainly from a Zimbabwean
Ndebele context, and through the lens of the African saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child’.
In the findings, three crucial socio-ecclesial themes emerge from Verryn’s response which
I refer to as the three Cs, namely, collaboration, consultation and contextuality. These are
discussed through the lens of African women’s theology in relation to African values of
childcare and its implications for pastoral care in a context of displaced children, and
accompanied or unaccompanied minors (child migrants).
Description:
This research builds up from the research conducted for the
doctoral study that forms part of postdoctoral research,
participating in the research project, ‘Gender Studies and
Practical Theology Theory Formation’, directed by Prof.
Dr Yolanda Dreyer, Department of Practical Theology,
Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria.
