Many children in Namibia find themselves facing a social crisis. They have been abandoned or abused, are malnourished, homeless, or live in shacks that barely provide any protection. However, amidst these disastrous living conditions, children have developed remarkable survival skills, and come up with equally clever and disillusioned analyses of their situation.
For three years, Michaela Fink and Reimer Gronemeyer conducted interviews in Namibia with women who take care of vulnerable children. The book gives these children a voice in interviews and essays.
Michaela Fink (Dr. phil.), born 1973, is a research associate at the Institute of Sociology at Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen. Her work and research focuses on end-of-life care, volunteering and dementia, as well as studies on sub-Saharan Africa. She completed her doctorate in 2011 on the subject of the institutionalisation of dying in hospice work and palliative care, works in various research projects on the topic of voluntary end-of-life care and was involved in the establishment and management of the outpatient children's hospice service in Gießen (2006-2012). Reimer Gronemeyer, born in 1939, holds a Ph.D. in theology and in sociology. He is a Prof. em. at the Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen, honorary senator of the University of Giessen, and has conducted research in Zimbabwe, Sudan, Tansania, Namibia, Botswana, and Malawi. He is the chairperson of the German NGO »Pallium - Research and Aid for Social Projects«.