Lanterna Rally

Author: Irene McCartney

Publisher:

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 9780797420755

For many years, farmworkers in Zimbabwe have been a marginalized and neglected community. This book describes the lives of hired farmworkers' children in their own words. Over 850 children aged 10-17 were interviewed or wrote essays in English or Shona. Nearly all the children were in elementary school in grades 4-7. Many farm children undergo experiences of loss and deprivation, work, marriage at a very young age, and lives constrained by poverty and geographic isolation, yet they show no self-pity and have hopes for the future. An introduction discusses the need for nongovernmental organizations and development workers to listen to the opinions and priorities of the people who receive their assistance, including rural children, who have home and work responsibilities from an early age. The book is divided into nine sections that explore through the testimony of farm children issues of childhood; family life; the home, health, and preschool education; the farm; work; education and aspirations for the future; recreation; culture and history; and conceptions of the wider world. Each section includes background to the topic, the children's words and writings, and commentary and explanatory notes in the margins. A final section lists the names of the participating children, their farms, their schools, and their teachers, and briefly describes the work of Save the Children (UK) in Zimbabwe. (Contains photographs and children's illustrations.) (SV)