Keywords

South Africa, family, doctrine

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Early in 2015, I visited my aunt’s home. She lives in one of the largest townships in South Africa, an urban residential area with a predominantly black African population. Townships often have higher unemployment, greater poverty, and younger populations than other areas in South Africa. Townships also tend to have higher levels of risk behaviors such as drug abuse, unprotected sex, and crime. This was my first visit to my aunt’s home in five years. As I entered the home, I noticed some young people I had never met. My aunt, who is in her early sixties, began to introduce me to everyone. I was surprised to learn that her granddaughter, in her early twenties and unmarried, already had two children. That meant there were four female generations living under the same roof and using the same surname. All were unmarried. The only male in the house was my aunt’s unemployed son.