This blog is conversational, where Prof Elena Moore, Lindeka Mrengqwa and Lulamile Mabe explore experiences of seniority, research and older persons care in a peri-urban informal settlement in South Africa. About the researchers: My name is Lindeka Mrengqwa, a 30 year old mother of one beautiful, smart young lady, born of a strong black woman who always emphasized the importance of education. I did my undergraduate and honours studies at the University of the Western Cape, where I fell in love with the world of research. I majored in social science , psychology and linguistics. My research interests focused on

My name is Janet Ananias, and I am the Country Lead of the Namibian research team for the Family Caregiving of Older Persons in Southern Africa programme. In case you don’t know, Namibia, covers 824 116 km2  and is about twice the size of Germany and about 70% of the size of South Africa. Despite the size of the country there are just over 2.5 million people in the country making it one of lowest population densities in the world. In practical terms this means you have to travel vast distances often in very warm and arid lands before you reach a

My name is Charis Sass and I am a research assistant for the Family Caregiving of Older Persons in Southern Africa programme. Conducting interviews in a space in which there is an older person who is receiving care is tricky and there are many situations in which you, as the researcher, can feel as though you need to adjust and provide care to the ‘vulnerable’ participant, the person who is in pain.  But how do I think about that? How am I understanding this need to ‘care for’ the participant?  In considering this, I have taken the time to reflect

My name is Nonzuzo Mbokazi I am a senior researcher on the Family Caregiving of Older Person in South Africa programme. A part of my responsibilities is sampling participants for the research study. One of the research study sites is KwaZulu-Natal, Nkanyezi. Nkanyezi is a rural settlement under the traditional leadership of Chief Ngwenya. What has made me familiar with Nkanyezi is that my father was raised here. I frequently visited my paternal grandmother in this area throughout my life until her passing away in 2011. Nkanyezi can be considered a disadvantaged rural settlement; and provides us with a rural

How do you manage in-depth qualitative data across 25 researchers, sixteen research sites and four different countries in Southern Africa? When issues of data confidentiality, anonymity and security are coupled with everyday realities of access to mobile data, internet connections and unstable electricity supply? How do you ensure accessible, effective, and reliable methods of data management? That was the task we were given at the beginning of the year as we prepared for the research study, which is part of the family caregiving programme, a programme that is dedicated to understanding family care of older persons in Southern Africa. The

In the Southern African region, there is a strong practice of family-based care for older people. While it can be very fulfilling work, providing care to older people who have significant care needs is expensive, time-consuming, and difficult. Few people can afford to pay for external support, services and equipment needed to provide care at home. However, there are not adequate policies, structures, or funding and coordination mechanisms in place to support long-term care in the region. While South Africa has a more developed long-term care system than some other countries in the region, the government has progressively defunded residential