The burden of grandparenting : caring for aids-orphaned grandchildren in Lephalale, South Africa

Abstract

HIV/AIDS is devastating and fatal to working adults in the prime of their lives, thus leaving the responsibility of caring for the orphans to their grandparents. This study explored the experiences of grandparents assuming the role of parenting their AIDSorphaned grandchildren in Lephalale, South Africa. Phenomenological face-face interviews were conducted with ten elderly, black African grandmothers between the ages of 55 and 71. The participating women were self-identified as carers for their AIDS-orphaned grandchildren. The challenges the participant grandmothers faced in caring for their grandchildren were identified as the following: recurrent experiences of loss and grief, lack of social support, fear of stigmatization, financial constraints, mental health and physical strain, difficulty in acquiring state social grants, emotional distress, the caring role being divinely ordained and the rejection of orphans by their biological fathers. Recommendations are advanced on the basis of the findings.