Submitted to the Faculty of Theology and Religion Studies in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Theology in the Department of Practical Theology at the University of Zululand, 2004. / A literary critique is offered on the publication "Theology in a New Key: Responding to Liberation Themes", by Robert M. Brown. His view of Christian ministry differs fundamentally from the documented ministry of the early Church, described by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles. A comparative analysis is presented in this dissertation. A brief review is made of the Christian Church in South Africa, with reference to early Christian missionaries who helped establish the Christian faith in this country. The devastation caused to the Church and the nation by fifty years of Apartheid is discussed. Attitudes towards the role of the Christian Church in society differ according to religious or philosophical belief. A brief examination of Atheism, Agnosticism, Deism, and Theism is undertaken, and conclusions drawn concerning their attitudes towards the Christian Church. Situational Ethics is the practical outworking of many religious and philosophical views in the 21st century, and is here exposed as unbiblical. It is also illogical, in that it expects the Christian Church to provide 'social convenience', while offering no personal commitment Socio-medical aspects of South Africa's monstrous HIV/AIDS epidemic are presented, and a case study done of an orphanage in KwaZulu-Natal, to establish the precise nature, financial viability, and balance of spiritual ministry within this Christian Care Centre. Recommendations for effective and biblical Christian ministry in the 'new' South Africa are presented.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements and the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Library and Information Science at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2013. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the information needs and seeking behaviour of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and caregivers, and to examine the role of service providers in disseminating information to OVC and caregivers in Namibia. Although several studies focusing on different aspects of the OVC situation have been done, the researcher could not identify any study that focused on the information needs and seeking behaviour of OVC and their caregivers in Namibia and how the two groups satisfy their information needs at present. In order to obtain data from the respondents, the study adopted qualitative and quantitative research methods for data collection. A questionnaire was mailed to the sampled service providers, while interviews were conducted with OVC and caregivers. Focus group discussions were also held with caregivers and key informants in order to explore the general attitudes, feelings, beliefs, experiences and reactions of the research population with respect to information needs and seeking behaviours. The study took place in the rural community of Ohangwena and the urban setting of Khomas. A total of 566 OVC, 70 caregivers, and 18 services providers from both regions took part in the study. A total of eleven focus group discussions took place; eight focus group discussions were held in Ohangwena, while three were in the Khomas region. Both rural and urban OVC indicated that they needed information in order to access financial vii assistance/grants, child care/support, feeding schemes, and health services. The most important information required, according to the OVC from Ohangwena, was information on school development fund exemption, financial assistance or grants, health services, child care/support and training opportunities. The OVC from Khomas had similar priorities with the exception of training opportunities, which was replaced with counselling. Both rural and urban OVC consulted relatives, teachers, and friends to satisfy their information needs, indicating that people were their most important source of information. The findings from focus group discussions (FGDs) with caregivers and key informants indicated that there are disparities between rural and urban areas in terms of information access and use based on literacy and education. For example, the rural dwellers cited their need for information on educational support, psychological and counselling services, child care/support, and job opportunities. In the urban setting of Khomas, educational support and the establishment of small businesses featured as prominent needs. The FGDs revealed that the radio, traditional leaders, regional councillors, friends and relatives were the most important sources and channels of information in Ohangwena, while in Khomas, friends and relatives, community leaders, and regional councillors were the most popular channels. Social workers and the television were also popular channels in Khomas. The findings of the study indicate that service providers provide a range of services to OVC and caregivers in both rural and urban areas. In the rural areas, the majority of the supporting organisations had health-related programmes focusing on feeding schemes and nutrition, and HIV/AIDS awareness. In urban areas, service providers provided psychosocial support, counselling, and resilience services. The findings reveal that the majority of the service providers used community meetings and public forums to communicate their own information and to create awareness of their services in both regions. The channels that were most frequently used in Ohangwena were community meetings and open forums, while the use of volunteers featured prominently in Khomas. The OVC and caregivers encountered various problems in accessing information, including: long distance to access information and services; language barrier for printed materials; shortage of service providers in rural areas; lack of coordination of service providers; and viii bureaucratic red tape from government departments. Major recommendations stemming from the study include: the need for service providers to provide clear information on how to access the different services that target OVC and caregivers; service providers should collaborate and use mass media channels to disseminate information; the need for a “one stop shop” where all information related to OVC services would be made available; and the need to provide information in local languages. The study concluded that information provision is a crucial resource for OVC and caregivers because it helps them identify and take advantage of available services. Conversely, lack of information leads to the lower utilization of available services and increased poverty and disempowerment. Several recommendations are made on how to improve the flow of information to OVC and caregivers to help them easily locate and use facilities and services that have been set up for them either by the government, or by non-governmental organisations and other service providers. The study also proposes a model to improve the provision of information to OVC and caregivers in the two regions. / University of Zululand

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There is an absence of research on the process of identity formation and the related sense of social belonging for adolescent social orphans, that is, those youth who live outside parental care despite the presence of at least one living biological parent. In addition, scant attention has been paid to how culture norms influence the experience of ambiguous loss. Yet this population of children is vast; UNICEF (2012) estimates a total of 151 million orphans worldwide of which at least 8 million languish in institutions (RELAF, 2010). Due to complex social conditions, approximately 40,000 children over the age of seven are under the protection of the Colombian government and of this number, 25,000 reside in institutions (RELAF, 2010). Informed by ambiguous loss and attachment theories, this qualitative study's primary aims were to: (1) understand how parental loss influences the social orphan's social construction of biological as well as psychological family; (2) make explicit the role of adult identity agents who participate in the process of the youth's identity formation; and (3) identify how these youth transitioning to adulthood perceive their futures. The data are derived from two in-depth interviews conducted in Spanish with thirty social orphans aged 14 and 19 residing in two Colombian institutions. Results revealed that, despite having histories of abuse, neglect and/or extreme hardship, the absent birth family is psychologically present for the majority of these youth and their future goals include reunification as well as economic support for biological family members. Findings also suggested that those youth who are able to identify available adults who possess the attributes of an identity agent, and can draw upon the emotional and instrumental resources they offer, are better able to navigate the process of identity formation and imagine futures that are replete with hope and success. From a practice perspective, the study's findings offer insights into strategies for the development of culturally informed models of clinical engagement with adolescent social orphans to improve post-institutional outcomes for those youth for whom the world, without the benefit of parental support, is fraught with challenges and increased risk for social disconnection.

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El Salvador has a large population of children living in orphanages where, as predictions from previous research indicate, many will not meet developmental milestones that could be remediated with research and development. The purpose of this study was to determine milestone achievement and environmental impact among Salvadorian orphans at selected sites, in order to make recommendations for appropriate training materials to allow for the mentoring of caregivers to advance milestone achievement among the orphans. The five objectives addressed in the research are in context of two investigator selected orphanages in El Salvador: 1. Determine the current level of development of orphans using the Battelle Developmental Inventory Screening Test. 2. Determine characteristics of caregivers who have frequent interactions with the orphans. 3. Determine areas of strength and deficiency among the orphans with respect to Personal-Social, Adaptive, Motor, Communications, and Cognition. 4. Determine the level of association between selected characteristics of orphans with developmental milestone achievement. 5. Develop a model caregiver-training program for implementation at the two selected orphanages based on investigator-derived characteristics and related findings. Screening Tool strengths and deficiencies were identified among the orphans with respect to Personal-Social, Adaptive, Motor, Communications, and Cognition. The Batelle Developmental Inventory Screening Tool in Spanish was completed on 34 qualifying children at Hogar Immaculado Corazon de Maria orphanage and an additional ten screening tools were completed on qualifying children at Casa de Mi Padre. Statistical analyses determined the level of association between selected characteristics of orphans with developmental milestone achievement. Using findings from this initial phase, a model caregiver-training program was developed and implemented at the two selected orphanages based on investigator-derived characteristics and related findings. Conclusions from the study and recommendations were developed from the findings. The level of achievement of developmental milestones among the selected orphans was below the expected level for their chronological age. The caregivers employed by the two orphanages were a diverse group of individuals from a variety of backgrounds. The majority of them described themselves as not having formal education in child development. The strong interest they demonstrated during the training program indicated an eagerness and willingness to learn. The areas of greatest deficiency were communication and cognitive scores. The areas of relative strength were Adaptive and Motor skills. There were few statistically significant relationships between the selected independent variables and the scores on the screening tool with the exception of association between motor scores and both the child?s nutritional status and the number of months they have spent in the orphanage. Months spent in the orphanage also show some evidence of association with communication scores, but not statistically significant. The model intervention program was successfully implemented and should be part of an on-going training program. Future research should replicate this study in similar setting and provide additional probes with a larger sample to substantiate these finding and more in depth understanding for enhancement of both theory and practice. / Ph. D.

To detect possible adjustment problems and in attempting to identify the areas of maladjustment from which a child may be suffering, the writer administered the California Test of Personality; a test of personality measurement and observation taken from a subjective frame of reference.